


Sawamura Daichi is a Good Person

by HomeForImaginaryFriends



Series: The Agency - Modern Magic AU [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Character Death, Everyone is in it at one point or another, Gore, M/M, Magic, Polyamory, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-08-28 07:59:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 84,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8437708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/pseuds/HomeForImaginaryFriends
Summary: Sawamura Daichi was just trying to do his job and stop a demon from being unleashed onto the unsuspecting populace, so how exactly did he end up with a soul contract with a demon (Kuroo Tetsurou) who refuses to stop flirting with him?





	1. Sawamura Daichi and the Fallen Giants

Sawamura Daichi believed he was a good person. If his parents were still alive he honestly believed they would be quite proud of the man he had become despite certain obstacles in his life. He had been a happy child, and when his parents had died at the tender age of 8 he had become more serious than other children his own age, but that was fine. He made sure to be helpful to his grandparents when he moved in with them. He never spoke out of turn with them, he got good grades, he did his chores without having to be reminded, he never stayed out late, and always told them where he was going. He was a good grandson.

As Sawamura got older he continued on the same path of goodness. He didn’t speak during classes unless called on, he was polite and kind to everyone no matter how disagreeable their personalities were, he turned his work in on time, he didn’t cause trouble and when he was an upperclassman, he made sure to be a good example to those under him. He was patient, at least outwardly, he made sure to keep his underclassmen in line and under control without being stifling to them.

After graduating high school he joined the Agency, was placed into a group that was more grunt work than anything but he never complained. He went to work, did his job, and went home. He never whined about his lot in life, he never complained how he was constantly having to buy new clothes because they were always getting ruined, and he just carried on.

Sawamura fought his way to the top by being a good worker, and people knew they could depend on him. He was assigned his own squad and he built them from the ground up despite the old nickname they had as the “Fallen Giant”. He didn’t even complain that his squad was made up of misfits who were too loud, rowdy, and obnoxious.  
When the newest members showed up, he should have quit. Sawamura knew that was on him. He should have accepted a nice, cushy office job with regular hours, and no-work on weekends. He thought it would be boring, that he’d wish he was back out on the streets on assignments. He thought he could be a good person, a good leader and help his new recruits, who had obviously been sent to him because they were troublemakers and instigators.

Sawamura knew that if he quit, the leadership position would fall to Sugawara Koushi. Sugawara was a great second-in-command, and Sawamura had no doubt he’d make a great leader but Sawamura was a good person, and he didn’t want to leave Sugawara with a bunch of rowdy troublemakers without whipping them into shape first. So Sawamura stuck around and really, he should have run screaming.

“I’m a good person.” Sawamura told himself, once again, as he looked around at the mess his newest, and youngest members had caused. He understood why the Agency was making training time shorter and shorter, but he still believed 20 years old was a little young to be shoved out into the field. Especially when you were an immature 20-year-old.   
“We all know that Daichi.” Sugawara was trying to smile, really he was trying his hardest to make the situation a little lighter. When his newest recruits had blown up apart of the agency during an ugly fight, he should have kicked them back to training, or kicked them out entirely. 

“I don’t deserve this.” Sawamura said, trying to breath out of his mouth because the smell was absolutely atrocious. 

“I know.” Sugawara’s smile was a little more genuine, and that helped. But only a little. 

“What happened?” Sawamura’s voice could be loud and booming when he wanted it to be, cutting across the loud shrieking and yelling and laughter coming from the desolate area around them. Everyone looked at him hesitantly, trying to gauge his reaction. Sawamura smiled and they all took a large step backwards. 

“U-um, it was- there- an accident?” Asahi was the only one who tried to approach him, hands raised and shaking. He smelled like burning hair and sulfur, though the whole area smelled like sulfur to be honest. Big magic had taken place here, big and bad and nearly disastrous. Or more disastrous than it already was. 

“Asahi,” Sugawara said worriedly, pulling out a small towel from practically nowhere as he wet it with a water bottle, also pulled out from nowhere. Sugawara then patted the ends of Asahi’s hair. It had once reached his shoulder blades but now it didn’t even touch his shoulders. 

“I-I did it myself.” Asahi stuttered, fingers twitching uselessly as he stooped low to let Sugawara examine him. Most magic didn’t require a sacrifice to use. Asahi’s hair was one of the few things he was proud of, it was important to him, which made it a big sacrifice to make, which meant it was a big spell he had used. 

“Someone tells me what happened from the beginning.” Sawamura looked around at his lightly scattered agents. “Now.” He barked out, patience snapping thin. He would have to go to his superiors and explain why half a city block was now completely barren. Luckily this part of the city was evacuated and cleared years ago, but it still didn’t explain how a dozen or so decrepit buildings were now gone. 

“Ask the King and his peasant.” Tsukishima snickered, stopping immediately when Sawamura looked at him. At first Sawamura couldn’t figure out how Tsukishima had ended up in his squad, until he had spoken to him for five seconds and realized he might not be a troublemaker in the tradition sense like the rest of his group, but he was a horrible instigator. Finding weaknesses and soft spots, exploiting them until the person wilted or exploded. Tsukishima seemed to draw the line at poking and prodding Sawamura, Sugawara, and Asahi but the rest of the crew was like shooting fish in a barrel. Explosive fish in a barrel. 

“We were just making our rounds!” Hinata was stepping forward quickly, dodging around dark pits in ground that steamed ominously. Hinata was half-sprite, and it revealed itself in his brightly colored hair, small stature, elven features and innate magical abilities. Problem was he was easily distracted and undisciplined, so either he couldn’t use his magic at all or it tended to blow up big and powerful in everyone's faces. 

“Yeah.” Kageyama followed on Hinata’s heels, shooting a nasty look at Tsukishima. Anyone else would have cowered under the powerful glower, but Tsukishima tilted his chin back, giving Kageyama a challenging look. 

“There was a little girl!” Hinata stopped in front of them as Kageyama nodded, quickly forgetting about Tsukishima. Sawamura had first thought his biggest problem would come from Hinata and Kageyama. Kageyama was a magical genius, but his personality was so poor no one wanted to work with him, but he was too much of an asset to let go so Sawamura had been given orders to ‘fix him’. Hinata and Kageyama had instantly gotten into each other’s faces, some old bad blood that Sawamura was too old and wary to deal with. 

Sugawara had forced them to work together, which had seemed like a poor idea to Sawamura but he never really questioned his second in command when he got that scary glint in his eyes. It wasn’t as if they became best buddies overnight, but it was pretty close to it. They fought constantly, sometimes coming to actual physical or magical blows, but they always worked it out in some weird way Sawamura could never understand, but was thankful for anyways. He hated to admit it, but the team was stronger with them, stronger even with Tsukishima who liked to rile up the other two. Who admittedly were quick to anger. 

“A little girl?” Sugawara asked, shooting a cringe towards Sawamura as he felt a headache coming on. Sugawara backed away from Asahi, deeming him healthy and whole. Sawamura was just glad his other two wild cards were out on a different assignment. Even the thought of a potentially hurt Asahi sent Nishinoya into loud rants and he babied the large man even more than usual. As it was, Sawamura was not looking forward to when Nishinoya saw the lost hair. 

“Yeah! She was crying and had a teddy-” Hinata swallowed thickly, looking away and Sawamura felt the fight go out of him. Sawamura was privy to all of his agent’s pasts, and Hinata’s was just as checkered as everyone else's, despite his sunny disposition and easy manner. Hinata had once had a little sister, Sawamura was not sure if anyone else knew that.

“She said her mom was hurt in a building, she pointed and we went to check it out.” Kageyama’s hand was awkwardly resting on Hinata’s shoulder, as if he wasn’t quite sure how to properly comfort someone and had read about it in a book. Hinata’s face lost his gloomy look, which even Tsukishima knew not to mess with. 

“But it was a trap!” Hinata called out, as if everyone else hadn’t already known that. There was a monster that worked sort of like the anglerfish. It presented a little girl, always crying and holding a stuffed animal, crying out for her mom. When someone went to investigate, they were eaten. “There was a creature and it was all-” Hinata made wide motions with his hands, nearly slapping Kageyama who moved out of the way and shoved the smaller man in annoyance. 

“No one understands your sound effects.” Kageyama grumbled. 

“Shut up Kageyama!” Hinata scowled but his emotions shifted quickly. “It tried to eat us and there were so many bones everywhere, Kageyama tripped-” 

“Dumbass, that was your fault!” Kageyama yelled, trying to hit Hinata who deftly dodged as if used to it, which he was. They were both scraped up, but Sugawara wasn’t hovering over them trying to administer first aid so Sawamura figured they were fine. 

“And its tongue grabbed him and-and-” Hinata trailed off, looking embarrassed. Sawamura could also see he was exhausted, and he knew from experience that it took a lot to wear out Hinata. 

“You panicked?” Sawamura asked, feeling his headache come back in full force. 

“I just meant to send it away but then it was consuming the building and then the next building and I didn’t mean it! I didn’t know how to make it stop.” Hinata was running his hands through his already messy hair. “Azumane stepped in and he- I’m so sorry about your hair!” Hinata was bent over, bowing and apologizing and looking like he was going to throw up and cry. Asahi, predictably, started to panic and try to brush it off as fine. 

Hinata had zeroed in on Asahi as one of the Best Things Ever from early on. Sawamura didn’t know if it was Asahi’s large stature, physical power, the fact that he was also a halfling like Hinata, or some combination of all three but he had been hoping their opposite personalities would rub off on each other the more time they spent together. So Sawamura had assigned Asahi to look after Hinata and Kageyama, while Sugawara was more in charge of Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. If possible, Asahi had seemed to become even more nervous and anxious under the awe of little Hinata.

“Stop apologizing Hinata, you did Asahi a favor.” Sugawara tried to make Hinata stand up straight. 

“His hair was a disgrace to the Agency.” Sawamura agreed, watching out of the corner of his eye as Asahi deflated slightly, but at least he stopped stuttering and shaking like a leaf. Sawamura had always doubted the Giant blood Asahi claimed to have. Sawamura had met many part-Giants, and they were all large and strong like Asahi, but they were usually stoic and unmovable. Like Aone Takanobu from section 5, team Datekou, who scared the wits out of Asahi. 

Sawamura made Asahi take the four new members back to the Agency to get cleaned up and fed. Using that much magic would exhaust both Hinata and Asahi, but while Hinata would be back up on his feet in a couple hours, Asahi would most likely need a day or so to fully recover. He was already wavering on his feet, Yamaguchi had hovered helpfully by his side as they walked away from the catastrophe. 

“What are you going to do?” Sugawara asked, looking around at the destruction. Sugawara was the only one who knew that Sawamura had been covering for Hinata in the last couple months, downplaying the amount of power he held, but this was beyond even anything Sawamura had seen. 

“It consumed the creature but not Kageyama.” Sawamura said instead while they stood waiting for the clean up crew and other investigators. “So he has some control?” Sawamura was grasping at straws honestly. 

Only in the past decade had the Agency allowed halflings to enter, and that was mostly due to the great need for more agents than actually wanting those with magical creature blood in their linage to join up. In all honesty, Hinata was the first true halfling Sawamura had ever met. Asahi’s own giant blood was gained generations prior, but Hinata’s own father had been a full-blooded sprite. Sawamura had never even met a real sprite, they tended to stay away from humans and heavily populated areas like Tokyo, but Hinata got along with everyone. Except maybe for Tsukishima, but that was more so due to the blonde man than anything Hinata was doing. 

“He does have some control.” Sugawara agreed, but they both knew it wasn’t enough. Hinata was dangerous, and it was up to Sawamura to decide if the pros of keeping him as an agent outweighed the cons. “He’s wanted to be an agent since he was ten.” Ever since the Agency had let in halflings. 

“What if Asahi hadn’t been close by?” Sawamura can’t help but ask. “What if Asahi hadn’t had enough magic or didn’t think to sacrifice his hair so he could obtain more power?” Despite Asahi’s nervous personality, which was the reason he was in Sawamura’s crew, when it came down to it, Asahi was strong and assured of himself. Besides Sugawara, he was also Sawamura’s oldest friend and Sawamura had been in the Agency long enough to know that today meant he could have lost Asahi. 

“Do you think somewhere there’s just 9 abandoned buildings with a disgruntled Suswie demon in it that appeared out of nowhere?” Sugawara asked, trying to lighten the mood.   
“Hopefully it’s not in our section.” Sawamura deadpanned as he tried to remind himself that he was a good person and did not deserve this life. 

Sawamura bent the truth to fit his own needs, to protect Hinata though he was not really sure why he was protecting someone who could take out half a block of buildings and a upper tier demon without breaking a sweat, but he did it anyways. Sawamura couldn’t think of it as lying, even as the younger Ukai stares at him, cigarette between his lips and a look that says he knew Sawamura was full of it. Ukai didn’t question him though, never had and Sawamura was grateful for it. Though he should probably thank Takeda, who was the only one who could calm Ukai down when he got into one of his darker moods. 

“I’ll have him start physical training.” Sawamura spoke up after a long, silent ride back to the Agency. Sugawara raised an eyebrow, because they both knew that the problem didn’t rest on Hinata’s physical abilities. “It’ll give me some time to search for someone with Sprite in their background.” There was a Registration for all citizens, and on it every person was required by law to reveal their backgrounds. It was outdated and easy to lie to, but maybe Sawamura could get lucky. 

“Daichi,” Sugawara glanced around before following the other man into his office, closing the door quietly behind him. “Sprites aren’t supposed to be powerful.” Sugawara says hesitantly and Sawamura nods as he sinks down into his office chair. Sugawara chooses to perch himself on the edge of the desk. 

“That’s what we’ve been led to believe.” The problem with living in a world full of magic and myths was that no one could really tell what was true and what was made up. Giants were supposed to be large, aggressive, and dumb as a rock but Sawamura had known enough people with Giant blood to know that it was just not true. Well, the large thing was true, but the rest was made up. Sprites were supposed to be small, quick, and benign. 

“Maybe some of his ancestors were powerful magic users?” Sugawara asked, looking up and studying the ceiling. 

“There’s no other magic blood besides Sprite.” Sawamura sighed, rubbing his temples as he booted up his computer. Technology was questionable at most, magic interfered with it easily, but humanity kept trying to make it work. 

“What if they got it wrong? What if it’s not Sprite but some other kind of fae-creature?” It was a valid question, the term ‘fae’ encompassed a great deal of magical creatures and they were a tight-lipped group. 

“Hinata has met his father, he told him what he was.” Sawamura said, trying to sound as casual as possible while revealing things that were told to him in confidence. He knew Sugawara wouldn’t tell anyone, and he needed help with this situation before it escalated behind the point where Sawamura could cover it up. 

“Hinata met a full-blooded Sprite?” Sugawara wondered, leaning forward as Sawamura pulled up the Agency’s secure network, searching for others with Sprite blood in the area. Hinata Shouyou popped up at the top of the list, with a dark red 50% by his name. The next person dropped dramatically, only coming in at 8%. 

“Kozume Kenma?” Sawamura sounded out the name quietly. He was 5% Sprite, a flagged low tier witch, and he worked in Section 1, for the Nekoma Team. “It had to be the Feral Cats.” It was a nickname given to them, because they tended to be solitary, cunning, and could flip on you in a second. It was still better than ‘Fallen Giant’. 

“You should go ask him to teach Hinata.” Sugawara said, sounding smug. Too smug. Sawamura looked up, cocking an eyebrow meant for Sugawara to continue speaking. “No one tells you no.”   
“I am not that scary.” Sawamura said quickly. If he was then there was no way Sugawara would constantly tease him like he did. 

“No, well actually you are, but that’s not what I meant.” Sugawara stood up from the desk and looked around the small office, noting the various weapons and books and scrolls, amongst other things. “People don’t like telling you no, instinctively most people don’t want to disappoint you.” That surprised Sawamura, which caused Sugawara to laugh.   
As predicted the next day Hinata was as energetic as always, bouncing around and being a general nuisance to everyone. Sawamura had Ennoshita try and teach Hinata, but after a couple hours even Ennoshita’s bottomless patience wore out. Asahi was still down and out, so he couldn’t train Hinata, Tanaka was out on assignment with Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, and that would leave Nishinoya, if Sawamura could find him. 

“Where is Noya?” Sawamura finally asked Sugawara, annoyance dripping from his tone as he glanced around Sugawara’s small office he shared with Asahi, as if the small man would be hiding behind a plant or underneath Asahi’s desk. 

“Asahi is still resting.” Sugawara said, not looking up from his papers. 

“I know that.” Sawamura scowled but quickly stopped when Sugawara looked up. 

“Asahi is resting because he expended a lot of energy yesterday and he’s still feeling very weak.” Sugawara said in a voice that would sound condescending if it was anyone else but the ashcolored hair man speaking. 

“Ah, right.” Sawamura felt the back of his neck heat up in embarrassment at the obvious answer. “Continue what you’re doing.” Sugawara’s laughter was warm against Sawamura’s back. 

Fraternizing was frowned upon in the Agency, it was actually against several company rules but it was the one thing the superiors all overlook. It wasn’t as if Asahi and Nishinoya were doing anything, or even really together but the way they acted- well, it was questionable. Sawamura made sure to look the other way, but part of him wanted to smack Asahi over the back of the head and ask him what he was doing. He obviously cared about the younger man, so why did he always halt every single one of Nishinoya’s advances?   
Sawamura walked into the infirmary, giving a nod to Watari before moving to the back where he knew Asahi would set himself, to stay out of everyone's way and be less of a burden. Moving back the partition separating the bed from the rest of the room, Sawamura felt his annoyance drain out of his body at the sight there. 

Both Asahi and Nishinoya were laying on their sides, facing each other. The only parts touching each other were their entwined hands and the smallest of touches as their foreheads rested lightly against one another. 

Sawamura closed the partition, quieter this time, as he felt heat creeping up the back of his neck and another oncoming headache. Nishinoya had earned the nickname ‘Guardian Deity’ and he could have had his pick of any team, Sawamura had been surprised when his transfer papers had come across his desk, his first thought wondering what was wrong with him. He was quick to anger, especially if someone mentioned his size, but he was also loyal and powerful and Sawamura could not figure out why he would ever want to be apart of the Fallen Giants. Until Sawamura had introduced Nishinoya to Asahi. 

Asahi had a reputation of his own, especially amongst people who didn’t know him. Sugawara called him soft-heart or glass-heart, easily and quickly shattered by clumsy hands. Most people who saw him in passing believed he was just as terrifying as Giants made themselves out to be, big and stronger than any human, with his wild long hair and facial hair, Sawamura could see why people would be intimidated, at first. 

Sawamura had thought Nishinoya would be let down by Asahi, but it seemed the complete opposite. The smaller man seemed to make it his life's mission to not only protect Asahi, but to build up his confidence. Sawamura would be fine with that, if Nishinoya didn’t get into fights constantly ‘defending Asahi’s honor.’ 

“How long have they been like that?” Sawamura asked Watari, watching the other man push back his wheelchair so he could look up at the clock. Watari had been apart of Section 5’s most sought after team, Aobajousai. Sawamura didn’t know all the details, except that Watari had saved a lot of lives at the cost of a crushed spine and the ability to ever walk again. The Agency had paid for him to go back to school, to become a doctor and continue his work with the Agency. Though having Watari in the infirmary meant Sawamura was likely to bump into other, unmentionable people, from Aobajousai. Sawamura tried not to even think of the man, lest his thoughts summon him. 

“About three hours?” Watari guessed before smiling. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Nishinoya so quiet before.” Sawamura laughed and shrugged his shoulders because it was true, Nishinoya was loud. 

“Can you wake Nishinoya up in an hour and tell him he’s training Hinata?” Watari nodded, writing it down before turning back to Sawamura, opening his mouth before they both heard a loud voice outside. 

“Oh no.” Watari glanced worriedly up at Sawamura. 

“Is there a back door?” Sawamura asked, wondering if he could just hide in one of the beds, pretend to be mortally wounded. It wouldn’t work, he was doomed and he knew it. 

“I’m sorry Sawamura.” Watari looked pained. 

“How could you betray me like this?” Sawamura asked, closing his eyes as the door to the infirmary banged open and a loud ‘Yoohoo’ was shouted into what was supposed to be a quiet and calm environment. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Nishinoya peak around the partition, looking annoyed, most likely the loud entrance had woken up not only him but Asahi, who was still supposed to be resting. Sawamura wondered if he could somehow get Nishinoya to yell at the intruder while he made his escape. 

“Dai! There you are.” Sawamura slumped forward, defeat riding heavy on his shoulders. “I need a favor from you!” 

“Don’t touch me.” Sawamura moved out from underneath Oikawa Tooru’s arm, annoyed at the height advantage the other man had. He glanced behind Oikawa. “Where’s Iwaizumi? The agreement was I don’t have to deal with your personally.” 

“So mean Dai!” Sawamura felt a twitch developing near his left eye. Watari, the traitor, sent Sawamura an apologetic look. Sawamura couldn’t fully blame Watari, Oikawa had been his old squad leader. He was loud and flamboyant and irritating as all hell but he was a certified genius, and despite his team mocking him constantly, none of them would want to work under anyone else. Even Iwaizumi, who Sawamura held in high regard, had chosen to be friends with the show horse named Oikawa since they were kids. 

“Well if that’s all-” Sawamura scowled when Oikawa stepped in his way. The lithe bastard was not someone Sawamura wanted to spare with. They were at a 2-1, with the favor in Sawamura’s court but he always ended up limping away, feeling exhausted instead of exhilarated at the win. 

“Why are you denying my request?” Oikawa asked in a sing-song voice that made the twitch below Sawamura’s eye become more prevalent. 

“Because Suga is an important part of my team.” Sawamura grumbled, feeling even more annoyed with Oikawa, who always seemed to manage to get his way. It was good for him to be told no once and awhile. 

“Share the Suga.” Oikawa placed his hands on Sawamura’s shoulders, but Sawamura knocked them off quickly. “Get it, because his name is Suga, but also-” 

“I get it Oikawa, I just don’t care.” Sawamura was only ever rude to Oikawa, and he was a little ashamed that he was doing it in front of Watari, who was looking more and more nervous, and two members of his own team. Sawamura took a deep breath, held it for a moment and let it out, trying to work out the annoyance that had risen up. “Sugawara is an integral part of Karasuno, there are other healers who I am sure would love to freelance for you, but my healer has enough on his plate without adding the work of another team to that.” 

“Your healer.” Oikawa smirked and Sawamura sighed, wondering why he bothered to try and be reasonable with the pompous man in front of him. Healers were sought after, and fought over too. Many sold their craft to the highest bidder. Sugawara was only a lower tier healer, but Sawamura was constantly being bombarded with papers requesting Sugawara’s help with this and that on other teams. 

Sawamura had brought them up to Sugawara at first, but the other man had waved them off. Sugawara had told him that he was exactly where he wanted to be. 

“Trashykawa!” Sawamura let out a sigh of relief at the loud, booming yell as Iwaizumi stormed into the infirmary, then stopped and looked around. “My apologies Watari.” Iwaizumi bowed before kicking Oikawa directly in the ass. 

“Mean Iwa!” Oikawa pouted, rubbing his butt and limping dramatically. 

“Noya!” Sawamura turned away, letting Iwaizumi handle his cocky leader. Nishinoya ran to stand in front of Sawamura. “You will be in charge of Hinata’s physical training starting today. You’ll train with him fours hours a day, starting now.” Nishinoya glanced back to the bed where Asahi was. “Asahi needs to rest and you need to do your job.” 

“Yes sir!” Nishinoya nodded before running off to find Hinata. 

“Good day.” Sawamura nodded, as professional as he could be when his eye was still twitching. 

“I’ll wear you down eventually Dai!” Oikawa called out to his back. “Ow Iwa, ow- stop, how does poking hurt so much?” 

Sawamura took a deep breath, glancing down at his watch and noting the time. All members of his team were accounted for, and he had just enough time to take the train to meet up with Nekoma’s Kozume Kenma. Sawamura had actually been a little surprised the other man so readily agreed to meet with him. 

Knowing Sugawara was there if any of the team needed him put Sawamura at ease as he made his way towards to the train station to meet with Kozume.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thank you to **audriel** for editing this chapter to make it grammatically correct!!


	2. Sawamura Daichi and the Feral Cats

Kozume Kenma was probably one of the strangest people Sawamura had dealt with, and he had to deal with a lot of strange people in his line of work. He knew how to handle socially introverted people because he had been friends with Asahi since they were teenagers, so that wasn’t the problem. His whole team was informal, so it wasn’t that the first thing out of his mouth was ‘It’s just Kenma’ like calling each other by their first names was acceptable at first meetings. 

It was the fact that Kenma was quiet. Many people were under the false assumption that Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita were all quiet. Those people couldn’t be more wrong. Sawamura understand why people believed that, in comparison to the rest of the team like Nishonya and Hinata, and yes, on occasion Sawamura himself, the other three were quieter. But they hadn’t been put into Karasuno’s team for nothing. 

They were troublemakers, all three of them. They were possibly even worse than makes-a-cityblock-disappear Hinata and can’t-stop-needling-people Tsukishima because they were so sly about the trouble they caused. Potions went missing, creatures appear at the Agency out of ‘nowhere’, and where were the terrible three? Nowhere to be found because they were smart enough to cover their tracks and high tail it out of there. 

Not that the old director didn’t deserve a Wiqui demon in his office, and they left no clue to be tracked back to Karasuno but Karasuno got blamed anyways because who the hell else would summon a demon in the middle of the director's office? 

Kenma was obviously a little awkward, his eyes skittering away every time Sawamura tried to make eye contact. His fingers twitched restlessly, and Sawamura had a feeling that if this wasn’t their first interaction, Kenma would have been rifling through papers or a tablet or a phone. Even though he didn’t make much eye contact and sat hunched in on himself, Sawamura could still tell that Kenma was listening. Listening carefully as Sawamura got down to business, asking for a favor from a virtual stranger without letting on his greatest concerns. 

“He is half Sprite?” Kenma asked after listening to Sawamura talk for five minutes. They both went silent as their food was placed in front of them. 

“Yes, he’s had no real formal training and his grasp of his magic is-” Sawamura motioned slightly with his chopsticks, sighing softly. “Sporadic.” Kenma stared at him from over the rim of his cup before looking away. Somehow Sawamura felt like he was betraying a lot more than he was actually saying. 

“And you want me to help him with his magic?” Kenma asked, voice still soft and lilting. “I have witch blood too so it might not be that helpful.” Sawamura nodded, already having thought of this. 

“I thought having someone who was part Sprite might be the most helpful, if not then I was going to branch out to a wider group.” Sawamura had a couple people he could trust to be discreet. 

“I would like something in return.” Kenma said, shoulders hunching even more. Sawamura sat up straighter in response, he had been expecting this. Most teams traded favors, but Karasuno was a Fallen Giant and therefore, most did not see them as worthy nor worth it to do them favors. “Your team still has their golem?” 

Sawamura was shocked by this. Each team was given a golem, a lifeless magically made body that was meant to be used in dire situations. Situations where it was obvious that to send an actual person into a conflict would be on par with homicide. Modern golems were impressive, almost unable to tell the difference between a living, breathing person and a golem. Karasuno’s golem was an ancient version, left collecting dust in the vault in Sawamura’s office. 

“Yes, we do.” Sawamura hesitated a moment, but he couldn’t allow a lie to slip past, even if it was just by omission. “It is outdated, I’m not even sure it works properly anymore.” Karasuno’s golem was held together by clay, duct tape, a little bit of magic, and a whole lot of luck. 

“That is fine, I need an older version anyways.” Kenma looked even more nervous as Sawamura raised an eyebrow in silent question. “We have a necromancer on our team, he is new and inexperienced. We would much rather him practice on a golem then on an actual person. I can make something akin to a spirit to place in the golem, but the new version of golem already has something like that.” The new versions, as Sawamura had come to know, were low-level sentient. They took orders and didn’t do much else. 

“Our golem for three days of training a week, for the next two months.” Sawamura said after thinking it over for a couple moments. Sawamura wasn’t used to being able to have the silence to actually think things through, his team was mostly all impulse and instinct that left Sawamura scrambling to guard them. “If it doesn’t seem to be of any help, then you can continue using the golem for as long as you need, but if it does then I hope we can renegotiate our contract?” Sawamura wasn’t sure how well quiet, introverted Kenma would handle loud, extroverted Hinata but it was a risk he was willing to take. Sawamura had once seen Hinata befriend with a terrified 300 centimeter troll who was hiding in the freezer of a McDonald's. 

“That sounds reasonable.” Kenma’s shoulders visibly sagged. Sawamura hadn’t realized how tense the young man had been until all that tension was taken away. Now he just appeared drawn and tired.

“When would you like to start?” Sawamura pulled a thick leather bound book out of his bag. Suga made fun of him constantly for it, but when magic messed with most technology, he preferred the analog way. 

“I’m open.” Kenma said softly, earning a look from Sawamura. “Dragon that exploded, three broken ribs.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. Sawamura had thought the stiffness was due just to Kenma’s personality, but now he could see it was due to pain. Broken ribs were not fun, Sawamura knew that from far too many personal experiences. 

“Tomorrow then? I can have Hinata bring the golem with him to your building?” Sawamura wrote it down in his calendar as Kenma nodded. He would have to remind Hinata to take it easy with Kenma, the other man was overly enthusiastic at the worst of times. 

They agreed on the time and finished their meal in companionable silence. Sawamura was used to noise, but he could tell Kenma preferred quiet and he had no problem giving that to the other man. If only he could solve his problem with Oikawa as easily as he had Hinata’s problem, then his life might go a little smoother. 

 

\------ 

 

“Oikawa searched me out again yesterday.” Sawamura said as a way of greeting as he walked into Sugawara and Asahi’s shared office. Asahi froze, as if wondering if he should leave to give the other two some privacy, before Sugawara handed him a paper and he relaxed. Asahi was fully recovered and someone had evened out his hair. It was still too long for Sawamura’s taste but he knew he had to let some things go. 

“And what did he want?” Sugawara asked, as if he wasn’t fully aware that the only reason he talked to Sawamura was to bug him about Sugawara joining Oikawa’s team, or to say some particularly catty things about Kageyama, who had been at one time Oikawa’s famed prodigy. Kageyama was a difficult person to deal with at the best of times, but Sawamura hadn’t seen any real reason why Oikawa would have such bitter feelings for his junior. 

“To compliment me on my outfit.” Sawamura deadpanned. Sugawara looked up from his work, eyes flicking over Sawamura’s clothes with barely concealed disdain. Sawamura dressed professionally, if not plainly. Sugawara particularly hated Sawamura’s suspenders, but Sawamura refused to budge on them. ‘At least wear the rainbow ones,’ Sugawara had pleaded, nose scrunched up at the black ones in Sawamura’s hands. ‘Absolutely not,’ had been Sawamura’s immediate answer.

“Are you thinking about going to a different team Suga?” Asahi asked softly, his nervous eyes flicking from Sawamura to Sugawara. They had all known each other since they were teenagers, and Sawamura hardly had any memories with Sugawara that didn’t also involve Asahi but he still insisted on acting like an outsider intruding on them. Sugawara chopped him in the side to dissuade him of any such notions. 

“Stupid.” Sugawara said primly, adjusting papers on his desk as Asahi bowed over his, clutching his side. Sawamura did not want to be Sugawara-hit, so he kept his mouth shut. “I have enough on my plate with you lot, why would I want to add more to it?” 

“You lot?” Sawamura and Asahi ask in tandem, wondering what they could have possibly done to be lumped in with the likes of always-angry-Kageyama and can’t-sit-still-to-save-his-life Nishinoya. 

“I’m going to be taking Hinata over to Section One to start his training.” Sawamura changed the subject. “Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita are already in the field on an assignment. Nishinoya and Tanaka are running Tsukishima and Yamaguchi through the course so that just leaves Kageyama.” Asahi looked visibly pale. Kageyama scared Asahi, though most things scared the glass hearted giant. 

“I’ve been meaning to teach him some low level healing spells, I think he’ll do well with them.” Sugawara speaks up, taking on the challenge of dealing with a petulant Kageyama. He had not been happy that Hinata was receiving some sort of secret training that he couldn’t be apart of, even though it wasn’t a secret at all and Sawamura had told him it was just to teach Hinata the basics, which Kageyama could do in his sleep. Sawamura had left a pouting Kageyama and a beaming Hinata in the locker room, hoping they wouldn’t break out into a fight like they usually did. 

 

\---- 

 

Hinata went through a gauntlet of extreme emotions in a short amount of time when Sawamura told him they were going to Section One so Hinata could be magically trained. First there was confusion, quickly followed by shame and guilt when he realized it was so he could be taught the basics. There was a fair amount of annoyance, especially since Sawamura made the mistake of telling him in front of Kageyama and the taller man had said he needed much more training than was humanly possible. A good amount of gloating when Sawamura told Kageyama that he would not be coming, subjecting anyone to the two of them was a cruel and unusual punishment that Kenma had not agreed to. Now he was practically vibrating as they made their way to Section One’s Agency building. 

All that excitement boiled over into nervous energy that quickly had Sawamura pointing out the nearest bathroom as they walked into the large building. It was bigger than the Agency building in Section Five, more modern and far more impressive. Even Sawamura was feeling a bit intimidated as he walked up to the front desk to ask for Kozume Kenma.   
Kenma showed up quickly, with Hinata still in the bathroom. His eyes lit up as he looked at the case behind Sawamura, made light enough to float like a slightly deflated balloon behind him. Kenma offered to store the golem to give Hinata a bit more time. Sawamura agreed because he was never quite sure how long these fits of Hinata’s last, and he had seen the other man throw up enough times to know that he was not faking or exaggerating. He always pulled himself together, given a little time. 

Kenma was walking back towards him, glancing around and probably wondering where Hinata was at because who took 10 minutes in the bathroom but then a loud noise drew both of their attention to the side. Kenma sighed, almost inaudibly, as three people came into view. One was most obviously Hinata, grinning and jumping around like he hadn’t just nearly thrown up all over the shiny marble floors 10 minutes prior. The other two were strangers. 

Actually one was notably Bokuto Koutarou, one of the best agents out of every section and group. His wild black, white, and gray hair could make it no one else but Bokuto, though Sawamura had never met the man personally he had heard a lot about him. He was talking enthusiastically with Hinata, matching the gingers enthusiasm seemed exhausting to Sawamura, but Bokuto didn’t look like he was having a problem with it. There was a lot of hand motions, jumping, and unintelligible sound effects coming from both overly excited parties. Sawamura understood why Hinata was excited, mostly everyone knew of Bokuto and his top-rated team, but why did it look like that elation ran both ways? 

On Bokuto’s other side was probably one of the prettiest men Sawamura had ever seen, and he had seen both Sugawara and Oikawa who were notably pretty in their own ways. He was tall and thin, his suit fit perfectly. His face was stoic, except for a small upturn of his lips as Hinata and Bokuto high fived. Even his messy black hair seemed perfectly styled and effortless at the same time. 

“Sawamura!” Hinata jumped over to him, looking slightly sheepish but mostly elated. “This is Bokuto Koutarou and Akaashi Keiji. This is my team leader Sawamura Daichi.” There were greetings and bows before Sawamura’s shoulders were gripped tightly. 

“I’ve heard all about you!” Bokuto said excitedly. Akaashi pulled Bokuto gently back, looking as if he had been forced to do that repeatedly as his senior officer forgot about personal boundaries. “You held off a Gringringe single handedly!” The back of Sawamura’s neck heated up as that old memory was brought back. Gringringes were huge and powerful and consumed everything and anything in their path. Sawamura had thought he was going to die on that cold November morning, when he was just 20 years old.

“I just held it off until back-up could arrive, I wasn’t that much help.” Sawamura shrugged because truthfully, he couldn’t even remember how that particular battle ended. Other teams had swarmed the area, his barrier had broken, and he had passed out due to exhaustion of holding a barrier on a high tier magical creature for ten minutes straight. 

“What!” Bokuto exclaimed before turning to Hinata, who was watching the exchange with wide, bright eyes. “Defensive magic is tough as shit to get the hang of, that’s why most people practice offensive. Holding a barrier spell meant to capture human individuals with low level magic against a top tier creature that’s the size of a train for 10 bloody minutes is unheard of, until your boss did it, without any assistance!” Bokuto boasted and Sawamura felt the heat spread from his neck to his cheeks and ears. Honestly Sawamura hadn’t even known people knew about that, let alone talked about the incident. The two agents responsible to actually killing the creature were awarded medals and honors, Sawamura just prevented it from destroying a city block or two. 

“It wasn’t that impressive.” Sawamura had been bedridden and weak for five days after. Using any sort of magic had hurt for weeks after. He had been told he was reckless and stupid for endangering himself, he should have just retreated until backup was on site, he knew that was protocol. 

“Wasn’t that impressive?” Bokuto sounded as if he couldn’t believe Sawamura had uttered those words. 

“It was.” Akaashi spoke up, smiling apologetically as Bokuto continued boasting and Hinata made awed noise, looking up at Sawamura as if he was his new hero. Sawamura felt uncomfortable and quickly reminded the ginger that they were here for training. 

“Training?” Bokuto bounced before he fidgeted with his multiple pockets, pulling out a black card. “If you need anything, call!” Sawamura was surprised at how sincere Bokuto sounded. “Bye-bye!” Akaashi was pushing him gently away. 

“I’m sorry about him.” Kenma spoke up for the first time, causing Hinata to jump. 

“Hinata, this is Kozume Kenma, Kenma this is Hinata Shouyou.” Hinata looks hesitant, for all of half a second before he was bounding up to Kenma and asking why their team had been nicknamed the Feral Cats, and before Sawamura could apologize Kenma was smiling, a small barely there smile but a smile all the same. He offered to introduce them around, since Hinata would be spending a good amount of time there, and Hinata could find out why they were called that himself. 

Sawamura only met part of the Nekoma team, most of them being out on assignment or in-field and he found himself having a vaguely familiar feeling. He meets the necromancer who the golem was for, Haiba Lev, who was even taller and thinner than Tsukishima, who tried to hover over and intimidate Sawamura and Hinata until a small blur appeared out of nowhere and kicked him in the ass. Yaku was a defense expert, much the same as Nishinoya was for Karasuno. He was lightning fast, sturdy, and had no patience for the half-Russian necromancer who had lost his intimidating stance to whine at his superior. 

They met a couple others before Sawamura was given free reign of a conference room. It was nicer than his office, they didn’t even have a conference room in their small section of the Agency. Mostly they had their meetings crammed into Sawamura’s office, leaning against walls or sitting on the floor or the few chairs Sawamura did have that occupy the small space. 

Sawamura wasn’t bitter or mad about the obvious difference between Karasuno’s office space and Nekoma’s, but there was still that heavy feeling down in his stomach. Especially when it was spelled out so clearly in front of him. He knew his team was made up of trouble makers, the unwanted and uncared for, but it didn’t make them bad people. He was pretty sure every single one of them would give up their life for each other, or to save a stranger, even Tsukishima who had spent most of his life pretending not to care because he cared too much. 

It was not really the office space that mattered to Sawamura. They hardly used it anyways, except for brief moments in the morning to meet up and to do last minute paper work but it was what the office space represented. Other teams would always get the newer and better equipment, training, magic, books, and so on. Karasuno was expected to go into the same situations but with less power and back up. 

It was one of the main reasons Sawamura had decided to expend most of his energy on defensive magic. It was not ‘hard as shit’ as Bokuto so eloquently put it, but it was a lot of work with very little pay off. It took years and years of training at defensive magic to even be able to cast a good protection barrier in a five by five space. Offensive magic was not easier exactly, but it didn’t take the never-ending practicing that defensive magic demanded. 

Sawamura had never been particularly powerful. He had honed his body to be physically powerful for a man his size and age, because physicality counted quite a lot towards how long you could hold up a spell, especially when it came to defensive magic. His magic tended to be more of a syphon, he couldn’t use great amounts of it but he could gather it and hand it off to someone else. It was this particular talent that he had always thought was useful in a world of demons and magic users that led him to his skill set. 

Magical tattoos weren’t exactly thought of very kindly in the magical community. Why went through a painful experience for a spell you could only use once? But Sawamura learned that his own brand of magic lent itself well to magic tattoos. He could gather power and push it gradually into the tattoos spread across most of his body.

 

It meant he could call on high tier defensive magic and boost the power of them without having to go through the long, arduous task of setting up a spell he couldn’t actually summon without the tattoo. It was why he wore the clothes Sugawara thought of as plain and boring, to cover up the black, sometimes angry looking tattoos spread across his torso, arms, and even parts of his legs. 

It did mean he had to go see Terushima Yuuji, the only actual certified magical tattoo artist in their section, every time he used one of the ink stained spells. Terushima, while being far too flirty and obnoxious for Sawamura’s taste, was an actual Ink Caster. They were even more rare than Sugawara’s med-magic. Ink Casters were exactly as the name described, those who could create any type of magic on paper. Terushima decided to do his magic through Magical tattoos, and he fit Sawamura in whenever he needed it. Terushima said it was because he knew, eventually, his charming personality and movie star good looks would make Sawamura go out with him, but Sawamura had long ago learned it was because underneath the tattoos and piercings and ridiculous hair, Terushima was a good, solid person. 

He was about three hours into his work when he was reading a report that made him a little concerned. He called up Sugawara, foregoing greetings to tell him to check his inbox where Sawamura forwarded the report. 

“Well that sounds-” Sugawara sounds hesitant. “Suspicious.” Sawamura glanced at the time, even if he left now it would be late getting to the area they needed to investigate, and he would rather do it in the daylight then at night. There was a reason humans instinctively fear the dark, and Sawamura never let himself or others investigate anything after the sun had begun to set. 

“Hinata is still in training.” Sawamura said, which he was hoping was a good thing and not a ‘God Hinata, did you blow up another Agency building’ thing. 

“I can go.” Sugawara said breezily. 

“Who else is there?” Sawamura didn’t mean it as an insult, and Sugawara didn’t take it that way. Sugawara was quick and strong when the time called for it, but Sawamura had strictly forbidden any of them from going in the field without a partner. 

“Asahi, Narita, and Kageyama.” Sugawara listed off. 

“Okay, take Asahi and Kageyama, tell Narita he’s in control of homebase for now.” Sawamura slipped into his leadership role easily. Another Sawamura Rule was that one person was at the Agency always when others were in the field. “If it’s anything actually suspicious and you have to confront it, don’t let Asahi overdo it.” Sawamura stopped his commands because it was Sugawara he was talking to. 

“Kageyama picked up on the healing spells quickly.” Kageyama would need extensive study to become a med-mage like Sugawara, if that was what he wanted. What most people didn’t know was that it took a considerable amount of knowledge of human anatomy to be able to perform proper healing magic. Even trying to heal small cuts or abrasions could turn ugly fairly quickly without the sort of studying that Sugawara had completed. The type of magic Sugawara was teaching Kageyama was mostly to assess damage than actually help heal it, finding broken bones or noticing internal bleeding, those kind of things. 

“He usually does.” Kageyama was one of the dumbest geniuses Sawamura had ever known. Magic and spells came easy to him, and his intense focus and never ending practicing meant he was well on his way to becoming a someone of Bokuto’s status. But he often lacked common sense and he failed everything that didn’t involve practical use of magic. 

“He’ll be excited to get out of the office and have something to tell Hinata about when you two get back.” Sugawara laughed. Hinata and Kageyama’s relationship made sense to no one. Sometimes they were rivals, other times close friends, and sometimes they seemed like they hated each other. Sawamura had long ago stopped trying to label them and was just glad they weren’t trying to kill each other anymore. “I’ll meet you back at the office later.” 

Sawamura was about to put his phone down and got back to work when his phone pinged lightly and he got a text from Hinata that was only a couple random letters but had Sawamura pushing to his feet and running down the hall. It could be nothing, but the way the lights were flickering and his phone went from full battery to a dark screen made him think otherwise. Magic, especially powerful magic, heavily interfered with technology. 

Sawamura slammed into the training room, pushing past a protective spell that made his feet feel like lead and his head confused, but he had been trained for that, had met those kind of spells before on multiple occasions so he kept moving despite his protesting body. Once he was past the threshold of the door the spell broke and he was running to where Hinata was curled up in a corner. 

“Sawamura!” Hinata was stuttered badly, his eyes wide and his face pale. His eyes seemed more golden than brown, nearly luminescent in a room that was too bright when the lights weren’t working and the blinds were closed. 

Sawamura stood in front of Hinata, fingers brushing over the buttons on his sleeves as he quickly rolls them up as he assessed the situation. Physical contact on the tattoos was not strictly necessary, the ones he had used the most were easy to pull out, even through the fabric of his clothes, but the he felt like he might need a bit more power for this situation.

The golem was on the floor, Kenma kneeling next to it with his hands on a power circle that was encasing a summoning circle. Summoning circles were complicated, Sawamura could recognize them but he’d never be able to replicate them. They were precise and for the most part, illegal because one wrong line and you could open a portal into a hell dimension. Sawamura wasn’t even sure there were hell dimensions, but demons had to come from somewhere, right? 

Magic was thick in the air, choking and oppressive and Sawamura watched, horrified as something inky and black pulled itself from beneath the golem and burrowed its way into it. Demon, he was summoning a demon and Hinata had somehow unwittingly helped because summoning demons was high tier magic and nothing in Kenma’s background suggested he’d be able to do it. Hinata was full of untapped power though, and directing power was more easy than summoning it. 

Too late, Sawamura realized. He was too late to stop the summoning. The thing was already here, in this world, and Kenma was giving it a body made out of magic. Too late, too late, too late, the two words kept repeating in Sawamura’s head but it was never too late. Well, it was past the point of stopping the summoning but Sawamura could still keep the demon contained. 

Sawamura traced his finger from the tip of his shoulder to the inside of his wrist, thinking about the spell he wanted as he repeated the action on his other arm. The black ink glowed, became swirling masses peeling off his skin. It hurt, as it always did, but Sawamura shoved the pain to the back of his mind as he continued to pull on the spells, feeding the powerful ones with smaller ones, eradicating a barrier spell made up of smaller spells that could not be broken from the inside or outside. 

Sawamura slammed the completed barrier around the creature, a separate barrier consumed Kenma and cut him off from the summoning circle. Kenma looked at him with wide eyes, yelling something that couldn’t be heard past the buzzing in Sawamura’s ears. 

Too much magic expanded in too short of a time, but Sawamura noticed something else and he was pulling more spells from his skin, his aching hot, tight skin. The demon was unbound and Sawamura only had a brief moment to fix that horrific situation. He knew next to nothing about contracts with demons, except that you were supposed to have one if you did something utterly stupid like summon an actual demon. Unbound demons could do whatever they pleased, to whomever they pleased. 

So Sawamura bound the demon to him because he could see no other option, not in the short amount of time he had to fix this problem as best he could. His arms felt too heavy and he was on his knees before he knew it, the light fixtures above breaking and raining glass down everywhere. 

Something burned against his skin, and Sawamura looked down to see the contract he had bound the demon with being etched into the skin of his forearm. He had a single moment of clarity, of thinking I must have done something truly terrible in a past life, before black swam into his vision and he was falling face first onto the floor. 

 

\-------- 

 

Sawamura had always been quick to waken. His body ached and was unresponsive, but his mind snapped into place quickly. Perhaps it was because he knows he was still in danger, or that he had Hinata to think of but he managed to push away part of his magic sickness and open his eyes. He knew he went too far, too fast but he also had a feeling he was about to make his body hate him even more as he pushed himself into a seated position and observed his surroundings. 

Hinata was in front of him, sitting cross legged and loosely, as if he was relaxed even though the room had been flooded with people. The demon-controlled-golem was still stuck in the barrier Sawamura erected, and so was Kenma, and both were a good thing. He also managed to throw up a barrier around himself and Hinata before he passed out, a thin-weak thing that was meant to be broken easily. Mostly barriers were to give people a moment to draw on offensive magic, a quick second that it took someone to break through a barrier was a second gained to go on the offense. Sawamura’s barrier was meant to look like one of those, but it had a tendency to explode outwards if someone tried to break through. Terushima had thought of it, and Sawamura had never been desperate enough to use it. 

The room was full of Nekoma members, some that Sawamura had briefly met but most he didn’t know. Most who were avidly glaring not at their demon-summoning member, but at him. Sawamura could feel the bitter taste of anger, his used up patience making his tongue sharp and his manners go out the window. 

Sawamura must have been using his worst look because several people took a step back, and Hinata was turning around, looking hugely relieved as he scrambled over to Sawamura. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Sawamura, I’m sorry.” Hinata said repeatedly, his hands hovering uselessly. He looked like he was going to be sick, and Sawamura really didn’t want to deal with that. 

“I don’t blame you Hinata.” Sawamura said lowly because anyone who had talked to Hinata for more than five seconds knew he was far too trusting and naive for his own good. Sawamura had thought he could trust another Agency member with him, but apparently he was wrong. It was a mistake he wouldn’t make again. 

Kenma had used them, Sawamura and Hinata both. Sawamura felt like a fool, and he hated that feeling, that someone had so easily tricked and used him. He had so readily agreed to hand over the golem because it was half-useless and Sawamura didn’t think any harm could come from it. Then he had basically handed over a wellspring of untapped power in the convenient package of Hinata Shouyou to some crazed demon-summoning mage. 

Sawamura had never been more angry in his life, and it was easy to transfer all that anger onto Kenma. Sawamura looked up, to where Kenma was sitting in the barrier and he let his anger and pettiness control him for a moment, shrinking the barrier and making Kenma curl up into himself. 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Yamamoto, Sawamura believed his name was, cussed out at Sawamura, walking threateningly over to him before he was yanked back dark haired man with a buzz cut. 

“Watch the barrier, I don’t really want to know what those extra sigils are for.” The man said softly, but his sharp eyes were on Sawamura, studying him intently. Sawamura forced himself to his feet, even though his body protested every movement. His fingers brushed lightly over his thighs, as if he was brushing off dirt but he was releasing more of the tattoos. These were dangerous, the throbbing pain in his body nearly doubled before it settled into a low hum, background noise easily ignored. Terushima hadn’t wanted to do those because your body let you know when you expended too much magic, it shut down to prevent you from killing yourself. Dulling those senses meant a person could easily kill themselves without even realizing they were on death’s door. Sawamura had promised to use them only under extreme circumstances. 

Standing in a room full of highly trained Agents who seemed more angry that he put up barriers on a demon and a demon-summoner than the actual demon seemed to be an extreme circumstance. Even then, just to protect himself, he probably wouldn’t have resorted to using them, but he had Hinata to think about. 

“A member of your team summoned a demon.” Sawamura was glad his voice was low and even, his nerves were frayed but no one would ever know it. 

“Funny that you’re the one with the contract on your skin.” Yamamoto snickered and Sawamura resisted the urge to cover his arm, to scrap the very skin off his muscle because of the contract he could feel down to the very bone in his arm. 

“Funny how even the lunatics who choose to summon demons don’t do so without a contract, I didn’t think there was anyone in this world who would do such a stupid thing.” The barrier around Kenma vibrated and Sawamura had to grit his teeth to keep it from shrinking again. He was angry but he would never be cruel. 

“I think we all need to calm down.” The dark skinned man, who Sawamura was guessing was the leader of Nekoma, said quietly as he held his hands up. “Let us explain, please.”   
Sawamura felt something heavy and dark slide into his mind and he could feel pure, unadulterated panic clog up his throat as he realized what it was. Realized how he had messed up again. 

Sawamura had bound a demon to himself and hadn’t put up any mental barricade against it. He began building them quickly, everything around him becoming fuzzy and too bright as he expended energy he didn’t really have to fortify his own mind so a bloody demon couldn’t take it over. Sawamura felt something warm run down his lips and chin, knew he was bleeding, knew it was his bodies way of telling him to stop, that he was pushing too hard. 

“Sawamura?” It was Hinata’s worried voice and Sawamura pulled himself back from the brink of unconsciousness, fighting for every single inch as he found himself kneeling on the ground. There was frantic chattering around him. 

“The barrier is weakened-” 

“Hurry!” 

“No stop!” 

Sawamura grabbed Hinata, shoving the smaller man to the ground as his barrier exploded outwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe it's over two chapters and no mention of Kuroo, who wrote this drawn out piece of trash?!
> 
> Oh it was me. Whoops.


	3. Sawamura Daichi and the Explanation

Sawamura had up a second barrier around himself and Hinata with a second of the first one exploding. It was actually less exploding and more of a violent push-back for those who couldn’t deflect or put up their own barriers quick enough. Like Lev and Yamamoto, who were clear across the room, they were obviously the ones who had tried to get through his protective spell. 

Yaku had his hands raised and his barrier shimmered and disappeared as he let his arms drop to his sides. He was breathing heavily and he was staring down at Sawamura with something new and intense. 

 

“Tora? Lev?” Yaku calls out but he didn’t turn his attention away from Sawamura, who shifted enough to let Hinata up. Yaku glanced at the nearly translucent new barrier, this one had a slightly pink-tinge and Sawamura could tell that Yaku was trying to guess what this one did. 

“I’m okay but Lev’s out cold.” Yamamoto calls, bending over Lev and shaking the gangly man violently. 

“How about we don’t try and break anymore barriers?” Yaku said in a voice of barely contained rage. It seemed Yaku had been relaxed earlier, confident that the situation was clearly tilted in their favor, he had underestimated Sawamura and he wouldn’t do it again. 

Sawamura pushed himself to his feet, his grandfather’s words ringing in his ears. 

“Posturing only works if you’re willing to back it up Daichi,” His grandfather had an old smokers voice, deep and raspy. He didn’t speak much, so when he did Sawamura tended to listen carefully. “You find yourself in the beginning of a fight, you look at your opponents and you show them who they are messing with. Fear is fine, fear keeps us alive, but you look them dead in the eyes and let them see that you will die for what you believe in.” His grandmother would yell, telling her husband that 10 years old was too young for those types of speeches, but his grandfather would just stare at him until Sawamura nodded solemnly. 

Posturing worked best if you didn’t do it often. People like Tanaka and Nishinoya did it a lot, and it lost its effect after time. It worked for them because people saw the crazy look in their eyes and their complete willingness to fight, but Sawamura only fought if it was a last resort. 

So Sawamura pulled himself up to his full height, which admittedly wasn’t the tallest in the room, but his wide stance and the strength in his body added to the effect. He stared directly into Yaku’s eyes and let him see the type of man Sawamura Daichi was. Sawamura could let a lot go, and if Hinata wasn’t with him then he probably wouldn’t resort to such drastic measures. But Hinata was here, they had involved his junior, the person he was responsible for. Sawamura was plain and boring, he followed most the rules and expected a lot out of his team. He was loyal and trustworthy and sturdy, but right at that moment none of that mattered. 

Sawamura let them see what he was willing to do to get Hinata out of their safely, even if that cost his life, because that was the type of man Sawamura Daichi was. The type of man his grandfather would be proud of. 

Sawamura wasn’t naive though, he knew getting them out of this building would be tricky and expend more energy than he really had. He was the one with the demon contract embedded in his skin, and he had technically attacked his fellow agents by turning a defensive spell into something offensive. But Sawamura just had to get them back to their section, and he knew he had allies there. 

His own team would fight tooth and nail, he knew that. Trouble makers they were, he knew without question that none of them would do something like this. Summon a demon and use fellow agents. But it wasn’t just his team that he could count on. There was his superior, Ukai and his grandfather, the director of their section. Oikawa would exploit the opportunity to get Sugawara, but Iwaizumi would fight with them in an instant, and his team would follow even if he was only second-in-command. Karasuno even had a growing relationship with Datekou, who was a team made up of those with giant blood pouring through them. Not to mention the various people Karasuno had helped throughout the years. Their section of the city was small, so most of their jobs included going out into the countryside. Many powerful magic users moved away from the stifling city and sometimes oppressive heel of the Agency. 

Sawamura had allies, he just had to get Hinata and himself where they could help them. 

“Let us explain, please.” A man whose name Sawamura couldn’t recall spoke up. He had gotten along well with Hinata, both of them high energy and easily excitable, but now he looks nervous and pale, his fingers twisting together like he might break them at any moment. Sawamura made a non-commitable gesture while running through a mental layout of the building. 

“I know this looks bad,” Sawamura barely managed to keep himself from snorting. “I am Nobuyuki Kai, the Second-in-Command of Nekoma and I’m sorry for how this was handled.” He shot a look at the caged Kenma, a look that was far too soft to be a glare. 

“Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use Hinata?” Sawamura asked, despite the fact that he had told himself he would remain quiet no matter what. The problem with being a good kid for most of your life was that people believe that was all there was to you. There was a reason he was put in charge of a group of trouble makers, and it wasn’t because he was good at reforming people. 

“I won’t apologize.” Kenma said softly, almost too softly. His eyes were concentrated on the floor. The barrier around him flickered as Sawamura felt something akin to hatred burn beneath his skin. Kenma flinched and the other Nekoma members swarmed. Some yelling or cussing, others trying to calm everyone down. 

“Sawamura.” Hinata said from behind him, surprisingly quiet. Sawamura glanced down at him before nodding and pulling his temper back in. 

“You said you wanted to explain?” Sawamura asked darkly, cutting across the yelling that was mostly coming out of an enraged Yamamoto. 

“The term demon encompasses a wide variety of different creatures, the same way fae does.” Kai said, stepping up and putting himself between Sawamura and Kenma, as if that effected the use of the barrier on him at all. “It is true that the majority of so-called demons we face on a regular basis are not creatures of good, but it doesn’t mean that all of them are the same. We cannot base our opinions on an entire race because of a few we have met. It would be like categorizing the human race as evil after meeting a rapist, pedophile, and murderer.” 

Sawamura remained still and kept his face void of any true emotions as he stared at Kai across the barrier. After a tense moment of silence Yaku began speaking. 

“Kuroo is a demon, but he’s not like any you’ve seen before.” Kuroo? They had named the thing because demons were tight-lipped about their names, and they were never so benign sounding. Sawamura had been avoiding looking at the creature, but his eyes were dragged to it. The golem, long limbed and featureless, was sitting up and Sawamura could feel its attention on him, even with its lack of eyes. Sawamura could also feel the dark brush against his mind when he looked at the demon for the first time. The golem was cracked in several places, something black and red glowing from beneath and Sawamura was terrified of the thing inside the golem. 

“He’s a good demon?” Sawamura asked, sounding disbelieving even to his own ears. Clearly he had spent far too much time around Tsukishima, his sarcasm and disinterested air was rubbing off on Sawamura in all the worst ways. He had already ruined his silence so he decided to continue on. “So that means you’re all not involved in illegally summoning a demon, tricking and using fellow agents?” The bite wasn’t quite the same as a Tsukishima insult, but they flinched all the same. 

“He needed a physical form, and it was better than him inhabiting a living person, isn’t it? Hinata was-” Sawamura cut Kenma off because he was tired of hearing his voice. 

“Expendable.” Sawamura spat out, a petty sense of satisfaction running through him when Kenma flinched. “You made him an unwitting accomplice. It wasn’t enough that you took the risks, you put those on Hinata too, you know what the punishment is for this sort of ritual.” Sawamura didn’t include himself in that scenario. He would take his punishment for his involvement, done because of ignorance and stupidity. Hinata trusted his judgement and that was what had landed him here, too naive and trusting, which should have never been a bad thing. 

“If you just listen to us, no one has to get into any trouble.” Yamamoto spat out. 

“Because I’ll just keep this to myself?” Sawamura actually let out a snicker. “Because if I put down these barriers then you’ll just what, let us go? Unharmed as long as we keep quiet about the unbound demon you summoned?” 

“I’ve known him practically my entire life.” Kenma was standing now, pale fists clenched tightly. “We have all worked with him, he sacrificed his life for us- for me.” Kenma slammed one of those fists onto the barrier, which sparked and hissed angrily. 

“During our parents childhood magical creatures were thought of as lesser, treated like they were animals.” Kai spoke up into the tense silence. “We know now how wrong those past generations had been, but they were speaking and acting out of fear of the unknown. It was easier to say that those creatures weren’t human, so why should they be treated as such then actually take the time and effort to establish communication with them. Now everything is tense and we’re trying to make up for our ancestors’ stupid mistakes. Do you think Hinata is worth less than you because he is half-Sprite? Because that’s what your ancestors thought, so why are you following the same footsteps when it comes to other creatures such as demons?” 

Sawamura looked down at Hinata, saw that this was how Kenma had convinced him to help. How often had Hinata been looked down upon or treated badly because of something that had been completely out of his control? 

“Kuroo has been with Kenma since they were children, yes, both of them were children because even demons are born and age.” Kai continued. “Yaku and I have known them both since we were all teenagers, and we went to training and the academy together to join the Agency and help people.” 

“We found ourselves in the cross-hairs of two fighting high tier magical creatures, the land around us was crumbling and burning.” Yaku picked up where Kai had left off. “Kuroo had a real body at the time, his own that could have walked away from the situation basically unscathed, but Kenma had been too close to the fight. Kuroo sacrificed himself to protect Kenma. We thought-we believed the worst, but a year ago he showed up, in a spiritual form.” Most demons could exist without physical bodies, Sawamura at least knew that. 

“How do you know it’s not just another demon tricking you?” Sawamura asked because he had to. Demons only used the truth when it worked in their advantage, they lied better than anything. 

“You don’t think we made sure? That we did our research?” Yamamoto snickered before Yaku snapped at him to go check on Lev again. 

“He was our leader, our friend and he was unbound and walking around this city for over 20 years without any death or destruction caused by him.” The spiky haired man spoke up, still looking anxious but he had at least stopped wringing his hands. 

“So we won’t apologize for doing what we had to do to get him back, though I am sorry for the way things are right now.” Kai did look apologetic. 

“What are you suggesting?” Sawamura asked, feeling exhaustion once again settling heavy on his shoulders. 

“He is bound to you already, there is nothing any of us can do about that. If you die then he suffers the same fate, but it also means even if he is evil, that he can do no harm as long as he’s around you, correct?” Sawamura nodded reluctantly. “So keep him around you, you will see he is not the monster you believe.” Yaku’s hands were clenched tightly into fists, Kenma looked ready to protest but closed his mouth. 

“You want me to let a demon follow me around for an indiscernible amount of time?” Sawamura asked, channelling his inner Tsukishima once more. “Have you looked at him?” Sawamura had been trying not to, he looked like he was melting, and he was bent over, heaving though that golem had neither a mouth nor lungs, which may have been the problem in the first place. 

“He’s transitioning, thanks to Hinata’s power he will be able to make that golem into his own body again.” Kenma said, though his eyes were worriedly studying the golem-demon.   
Kenma was right to be worried. As much as Sawamura tries to ignore it, there was another presence in his mind. His own mind was guarded and fortified, despite his physical weakness at that moment but the demon couldn’t seem to guard himself. Pain was the most obvious thing Sawamura was getting from him, ebbing slightly when one of its former team members spoke.

“What is the plan then?” Sawamura asked, his limbs feeling too heavy, his head too light. 

“If Hinata put more power into-” 

“No, next plan.” Sawamura said stiffly, throat parched and stomach heaving. Magic exhaustion was hitting him like a ton of bricks. 

“If you dropped the barrier we could-” 

“The barrier stays up.” He got several annoyed looks but he has little sympathy for anyone in this room, besides maybe Hinata who was all but huddled behind him. 

“Then you’ll have to wait until he’s done, it’s not as if you can take him on the train as is.” Yaku took a deep breath before heading over to Lev, who was groaning loudly in the corner of the room. Yamamoto had straightened out his limbs and pulled him into a laid-out position on the floor. There were two dents in the wall where the men had slammed into it. 

Sawamura also inhaled deeply, fingers brushing against his thighs as he used one more of the magical tattoos that delayed the effects of exhaustion. He was pushing his body past its limits, he knew that, but he couldn’t pass out now and there was no way he was going to let them know that they could just wait him out. 

Five hours, it was the time Sawamura calculated before he ran out of spells to keep him moving. The train ride was an hour so technically four hours. 

The golem-demon looked half formed and it was difficult to look at it for too long without feeling nauseous. Sawamura could feel the creature clawing against his mind, numb the world and burning with pain. It was hard to watch any creature, even something that was supposed to be evil, wither in that much pain. Outwardly the demon hid it well, but Sawamura shared a connection with it now. 

Hour one passed and Sawamura had long ago taken a position leaning against the wall, arms crossed and legs extended. It was supposed to convey a relaxed air he didn’t feel as he surveyed the room with heavy lidded eyes. He hoped he appeared bored and disinterested and not bone tired and sick.

 

Hour two was marked by quiet conversation. One of the unnamed members had left after a couple quietly spoken words by Kai before he reappeared with Sawamura’s bag and some food from the cafeteria. The man with spiky brown hair offered Hinata a sandwich, but Hinata shook his head. 

Hour three had the Nekoma team spread out around the room. Sawamura could make out undefined limbs now. A shock of messy black hair. A sharp scream ringing inside his skull and he wasn’t sure if it was the demon or Sawamura who was making the noise. 

Sawamura dropped the barrier around Kenma as fingers and toes became visible amongst chunks of clay that were falling slowly off a body that was rapidly looking more and more human. The rest of the agents jumped forward, pulling him away and protecting him as if Sawamura would hurt him. Sawamura didn’t mention that he didn’t actually touch any of them. 

They were closing in on hour four when the golem-demon gave a wheezing cough that seemed to go on forever. Hinata moved back closer to Sawamura, he had been softly talking to a couple members about nothing important. 

“Kuroo?” Kenma was at the barrier in an instant as a hand, distinctly human, reached out and pressed against the barrier. Sawamura felt the swell of magic beneath his ribs, a pressure against his barrier. The barrier cracked around the demon’s hand, Kenma was being pulled away quickly as if they thought that was enough to break it. The cracks turned blue then burned bright white before the demon was yanking back a smoking hand. That barrier wouldn’t even fall if Sawamura dropped dead right then and there. 

“Kuroo, I know you’re confused but you have to leave the barrier alone.” Kai spoke softly but urgently as the tension in the room mounted considerably. The windows began shaking as the demon pressed his magic against the barrier. Kai looked up at Sawamura worriedly before trying to speak more to the demon, tried to calm him down. 

The ground beneath the now mostly formed demon began to warp. Sawamura had had enough. He didn’t even need to expend any power because it was already there, woven into the barrier already. He just had to mentally hit a view metaphysical buttons. 

“Please don’t hurt him.” Kenma was inside his barrier, his still fully intact barrier. Sawamura cursed at himself mentally for thinking he had the situation under control. “He’s just confused right now.” Hinata was in front of Sawamura in an instant, looking a little sick but defiant. 

Sawamura remembered that he didn’t need to use the barrier to control the demon. Now was as good as time as any to test out the hastily applied contract. 

“Stop.” Sawamura spoke low while also wrapping his mind around the word mentally, shoving it at the demon. The demon stopped immediately, frozen. Sawamura could feel its confusion and anger fed by pain. “Tell me your name.” 

“Kuroo Tetsurou.” The voice came out low and raspy, as if it pained the demon to speak. Maybe it did. Sawamura wasn’t satisfied with the answer, it was a name the demon went by but obviously not his real name. Sawamura was about to issue another command but suddenly the demon’s magic stopped scenting the air, the tension drained away and his barrier settled into inactivity once again. The demon sat back on its heels and peered around the room before promptly breaking out in heaving sobs. 

 

\---- 

 

Sitting on a train with a weepy demon and an anxious sprite while Sawamura was almost too tired and too sore to keep his eyes open was not how he saw his day ending. At least someone had bothered to get clothes for the demon and he had been quieted down, until he realized he had to leave his former team because he was bound to Sawamura. Apparently he didn’t remember much, Sawamura was not yet willing to trust a word that came out of his mouth, despite the tearful reunion by the Nekoma members.   
The demon sniffed, fingers tapping against his thumbs as if testing his dexterity. Sawamura wondered if his new body felt marginally different than his own one, if it still felt less like a living, breathing body and more like a featureless golem. He wouldn’t engage in discussion with the demon, that was just not going to happen, but it didn’t stop him from wondering. 

Hinata kept glancing over at the demon, clear worry and concern he couldn’t quite hide despite the sour looks Sawamura had to continually send him to keep him from sympathizing with a demon. Sawamura couldn’t really blame him, he certainly didn’t act like any demon Sawamura had met or heard about. He even looked completely different, though he was assured that was how he normally looked. 

The demon was regrettably quite a lot taller than Sawamura, with long lithe limbs. Sawamura had gotten quite the eyeful because when the demon finished his transformation, he had been completely nude. His eyes were black, not a dark color that was nearly black in low lighting, but the entire iris was actually black. It was unnerving and helped Sawamura remember what he was, despite the fact that those eyes were always bloodshot and glassy. 

“It’s going to be okay Mr. Kuroo. I’m sure you’ll see your friends soon.” Hinata said quietly, leaning across Sawamura to do so. 

“Hinata.” Sawamura said with more exasperation then heat. Hinata slumped in his seat, but at least the demon had stopped sniffling. 

The train seemed to take an inordinate amount of time. Sawamura felt closer to death than alive, and he wasn’t typically one for dramatics so when he said he felt like he was dying, he truly felt that way. There wasn’t a spot on him that didn’t ache something fierce. He felt freezing cold though he knew the train was close to stifling with the amount of people on it. Every move he made, even blinking seemed like it was in slow motion. He felt nauseous and sweaty. 

“Sawamura?” Hinata was asking, already standing up because this was their stop. Sawamura pressed his hands against his thighs, releasing the last of his spells and knowing he’d pay for it in about half an hour. There was still a couple more things to work out though before he hit the infirmary and apologized to whoever was there. 

“Hinata you can go ahead. Don’t tell anyone about what happened, I want to talk to Suga and Asahi first.” Hinata looked nervous at keeping the secret but he nodded and walked off quickly down the road. Sawamura continued to walk at a much slower pace, Kuroo beside him. He was squinting and rubbing at his eyes. Was it too bright for him? Everything seemed dimmed and in hues of gray to Sawamura’s magic exhausted brain. 

“Is this where you throw me against a wall and press your face real close to me and threaten to kill me if I so much as look at any of your people wrong?” The demon was smirking but there was something off about it. Sawamura was too tired and in too much pain to try and analyze a demon’s mannerisms. 

“No.” Sawamura said quietly. 

“Disappointing, face like yours, wouldn’t mind it being close to mine.” The demon’s smirk became a little wider. “Not that it matters because you’ll be lucky if you even make it to the building.” Sawamura knew the meaning, how was he supposed to know if the demon did anything, let alone defend his team if Sawamura was going to pass out in less than five minutes. 

“Do you think that would stop me?” Sawamura asked in the same quiet tone. His face devoid of emotion, his vision going dark around the edges. Sawamura didn’t threaten people, he simply gave them one warning and if they choose not to heed that warning then he would act. The demon had already been given his warning, already knew the consequences if he moved against anyone, be it someone from his team or an innocent bystander. Sawamura had already put safety precautions into place, it had cost him and his body was paying the price, but it would be worth it.

“No.” The demon shoved his hands into his pockets, staring down at the ground before they walked into the Agency building. Just a couple more steps, Sawamura kept telling himself. “What am I supposed to do while you’re passed out?” 

“Stay out of trouble.” Sawamura shrugged, thanking every deity he knew that the infirmary was on the first floor. “Sorry Watari.” Sawamura was glad it was Watari on staff right then as he passed out, face first, onto the first available bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daichi stop lying, you like the living dead my man, you can't fight anyone
> 
>  **audriel** is the best for editing this chapter!


	4. Sawamura Daichi and the Ink Caster

Letting his body recover from magic exhaustion was well- exhausting and painful and tiring and other words Sawamura couldn’t come up with because he was so undeniably weary down to his very bones that even thinking of adjectives to describe how he felt was, exhausting. It didn’t help that everyone was a little mad at him. Only a little though because they know who Sawamura Daichi was, they knew he never would take something to this extreme unless he had a valid reason, even if they didn’t agree with that reason at all. 

Sugawara was the most angry angriest, coming into check on him until he found Sawamura awake and downing bowl after bowl of soup after being asleep for two straight days. He was angry because he had no idea how Sawamura ended up the way he did, and the only two who would know why, the demon and Hinata, wouldn’t tell him anything no matter his commands or coercion. He was angry because he knew just how far Sawamura was willing to go to protect others. He was angry because Sawamura didn’t call for help, even though he had no reliable way to let out a distress signal that was irrelevant to the mad Sugawara. 

Watari made Sawamura stay in the infirmary for another full day. It was spent mostly ignoring the demon and sleeping, waking up every once and awhile for Watari to shove some healing concoction that tasted terrible down his throat and then more soup. 

It was within that day that Sawamura came up with a plan of action. Contracted demons couldn’t be far from those they were bound with, so Sawamura set the demon up in his office with Tsukishima and Ennoshita. Tsukishima, despite his lack of motivation, was very good at reading people, even if it was just to find their weaknesses to exploit them. Ennoshita was there for backup, but also because he was a low-level empath. The demon probably had guards against empaths but it was worth the try, plus he didn’t want Tsukishima alone with a demon. 

Sawamura walked into the office next door, Asahi and Sugawara’s office, and told them everything that had happened three days prior. Sugawara was still angry but his anger loosened as disbelief took hold, then horror. Asahi remained quiet, looking nervous and a little sick but Sawamura could tell there was something else going on behind Asahi’s downcast eyes. 

“Do you think I did the wrong thing trusting them?” Sawamura asked because he needed a second opinion. The demon hadn’t done anything, and that scared Sawamura more than if he had done something. Was it just waiting and planning? How were people supposed to protect themselves when it finally did do something if they didn’t even realize what they were facing? 

“Two decades is quite a while.” Sugawara spoke thoughtfully but they all knew what he meant.

Demons were creatures of chaos, at least that was what they had all been taught. Every demon that had been captured or banished or killed had only been on this earth for a couple weeks, tops. Most gained entry into this world and immediately started to cause as much destruction as they could. Or, at least, that was what they were taught. 

“Asahi?” Sawamura asked because the large man had been too silent. Asahi was usually quiet, especially in larger groups of people, but he never refrained from giving his opinion in front of Sugawara and Sawamura, not anymore. 

“My grandfather is 12 percent giant.” Asahi said quietly, staring down at his desk. “He’s larger than me, but gentle and quiet. I never heard him raise his voice, never even seen him get angry even when I tripped and crushed his garden.” They were taught giants were large, slow, quick to anger, and particularly stupid. Besides being big, Asahi fit none of those other categories. Asahi had the softest temperament of anyone Sawamura had ever known. Even when he did get mad, it wasn’t a raise the earth kind of anger, it was soft and quiet like the man himself. 

“You’re saying the information on demons could be wrong?” Sugawara asked conversationally, as if he was already rolling the idea around in his head. 

“Not wrong, just incomplete.” Asahi rubbed his shoulder, looking awkward as he sighed. “If all the demons that humankind has come into contact with, at least the ones who proclaim themselves demons, have been evil then of course we are going to label them all evil. Demon isn’t exactly a flattering term, so it’s possible that those who- that if there were good ones like Kuroo then they would keep that a secret.” The last words were nearly a whisper, Asahi losing confidence in himself the longer he spoke. Sugawara punched him in the shoulder and Asahi winced. 

“But how can we be sure?” Sawamura asked before Sugawara could start in on Asahi being too negative. 

“We’ll look into unsolved violent crimes,” Sugawara suggested, already turning back to his computer as Asahi rubbed his shoulder. Sugawara’s punches were no joke. “Most likely he wouldn’t commit them near his home. We’ll try and see if there’s a pattern to any of them.” 

“How would we even connect them to him?” Asahi asked, cringing backwards when Sugawara turned a flat stare on him. 

“We are trained agents, are we not Asahi? Do we not investigate magical crimes for a living? Did we not go to school and complete rigorous training just for these sort of jobs, hmm?” Asahi was nearly cowering in his seat as Sugawara continued his assault against one of his oldest friends.

“I’ll keep an eye on him in the meantime.” Sawamura rubbed his face. 

“You need to rest Daichi, you’re still recovering.” Asahi spoke up despite the fact that he was clearly terrified of saying so. 

“I’ll rest when I’m dead.” Sawamura joked but neither Asahi or Sugawara found that funny. Sawamura stepped out of their office and knew he would have to take an easy day even if he had a list a mile long of things to do. 

Tsukishima stormed out of Sawamura’s office, his face twisted in disdain. The look quickly faded as he saw Sawamura and he bowed politely before walking off quickly down the hall. Ennoshita exited the office less dramatically, looking as tired, which was his usual look so Sawamura didn’t think much of it. 

“What’s wrong with Tsukishima?” Sawamura asked, worried that he had sent one of his own agents into a dangerous situation. Ennoshita smiled, which didn’t erase the sleepy look in his eyes. 

“Don’t worry too much about him Sawamura,” Ennoshita stared off down the hall before meeting Sawamura’s eyes. “Not being the smartest person in the room, it’s good for him every once and awhile to reminded that he’s not the only one who can purposely provoke reactions.” Sawamura wasn’t too sure about that, but he knew Ennoshita well enough that if there was any real harm meant, the younger man would have protected his junior agent with everything he had. Sawamura couldn’t fully disagree with Ennoshita either. Tsukishima mostly poked at Hinata and Kageyama, who were quick to react and even quicker to forget, but he had moved onto Tanaka and Nishinoya, who despite their attitudes, were his seniors and Sawamura couldn’t let him disrespect them much further. 

“Take him and Yamaguchi out on patrol in the south.” The south had the least activity and seemed like the safest choice. “I don’t want him redirecting his anger onto Hinata or Kageyama.” Ennoshita smiled and nodded before walking slowly down the hall. Sawamura turned around to see the demon leaning against the doorframe to his office. 

“Glasses has some issues to work through but he’s a good kid.” The demon smirked. “I might have pushed him a little too far though.” He didn’t look or sound sorry about that at all, and that was what really got through Sawamura. The demon didn’t try to fake being good, try and throw off suspicion. He was clearly a provocation expert and despite how that might not put him in a favorable light, he didn’t try to hide it. 

“He’ll bounce back.” Everyone on Sawamura’s team did. None of them were good wallowing in self pity, even Tsukishima. Sawamura started to walk down the hall, hearing and feeling the demon behind him as his long legs allow him to catch up and keep pace with him easily. 

“You told Azumane and Sugawara about me?” Sawamura can feel the tension practically radiating from the demon, it banged against the barrier in his mind. 

“They needed to know, to be prepared.” Sawamura answered simply. After a few moments of silence, he looked over at the demon beside him and was shocked by what he saw. “Are you pouting?” 

“No.” The demon said petulantly, turning his face away from Sawamura. Demons did not pout. Hell, the full grown man the demon was pretending to be shouldn’t be pouting either. 

“You are pouting.” Sawamura said in disbelief. 

“Can you blame me?” The demon’s shoulders stiffened as he looked at Sawamura, studying his profile. “You do.” Sawamura didn’t reply to that and they continued on in silence until they reached the training room. 

It was a large, mostly empty room. It was occupied by three Nekoma members: Kenma, Inuoka, and Yaku and four Karasuno members: Hinata, Kageyama, Nishinoya, and Tanaka. Sawamura had told them that if they wanted to see the demon, they would have to come to Section Five themselves, and that he was still holding Kenma to their deal. Nishinoya and Tanaka looked bored, watching Hinata go through the basics with a tired looking Kenma, but neither would disobey a direct order from Sawamura. The order being to watch over Hinata and Kageyama. The latter man was watching the training session with a quiet intensity, as if he hadn’t mastered the basics years ago. 

“Kuroo!” Inuoka shouted excitedly, breaking off the training session as the Nekoma members surrounded the demon. Sawamura walked over to his own members, where Kageyama was already yelling at Hinata. 

“Dumbass, how are you supposed to deflect any magic with a weakass stance?” Sawamura let Kageyama continue, letting the young man’s words tell him how the training was going. Sawamura had tried to get Kageyama to be nicer, or to hold things in more but Hinata was one of the few people who didn’t let Kageyama’s sometimes mean words put him down, it was like the ginger man took it as a direct challenge. 

“I’m learning!” Hinata tried to kick Kageyama but he was exhausted so it was a weak attempt easily dodged by the taller man. 

“You should have learned it years ago!” Kageyama yelled back. Tanaka and Nishinoya watch the argument with matching grins. It was not as if Kageyama and Hinata never got into serious fights, but they all knew the difference between them having a yelling-conversation and an actual argument that will end in hurt feelings and a couple days of silence. 

“Bakayama!” Hinata shouted, spreading himself out across the floor as his chest heaved. Kageyama handed him a water bottle, muttering about keeping hydrated and even children know that and how stupid can you be, dumbass. Sawamura forced down a laugh because Kageyama was abrasive, even when showing concern. 

“Why don’t you all head home for the day?” They all look liked they want to protest but stopped themselves because Sawamura was clearly not going to budge on it. Hinata hopped up to go say goodbye to the Nekoma members, Kageyama trailing after him and looking seven different kinds of uncomfortable. Tanaka and Nishinoya made plans to meet up for dinner because Nishinoya was undoubtedly going to go visit Asahi before he headed home, where he shared a flat with Tanaka. 

Sawamura walked off a little, giving the Nekoma members more time though he still felt a bit of resentment burning low in his gut. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number he knew by heart now. 

“Magic Ink, Masaki speaking, how may I help you?” A chipper female voice asked and Sawamura felt his shoulders droop a little because he was hoping quiet, timid little Runa would be working but instead he got stern, no-nonsense Hana who was most likely going to yell at him before and after Terushima yelled. 

“Hello Masaki, it’s Sawamura.” Sawamura cringed because he was being needlessly formal and that would give him away quickly. 

“Oh Sawamura, is it?” Hana asked, already sounding like she was getting ready for a lecture. “How can I help you Sawamura?” 

“I need to book an appointment with Terushima please, Hana.” Sawamura tried to cover up his earlier mistake. Hana made a noncommital sound, keys typing faintly in the background. 

“And how many tattoos are we doing today?” Hana asked. Sawamura rubbed his neck, allowing nervous ticks to come through because they were over the phone.   
“At least ten.” Sawamura waited and then heard Hana’s loud exclamation, losing all sense of forced manners. 

“At least ten? As in more because you clearly mean more than ten Sawamura Daichi, what the hell were you thinking using more than ten?” Hana barrelled on, barely even breathing let alone letting Sawamura defend himself. “Just because they require less magic than actual spell casting does doesn’t mean it won’t take a physical and mental toll on you! Not to mention what it will do to you when Yuuji puts over ten tattoos on you in one sitting. It is your body so you may do what you want to yourself, but you know the price Yuuji pays for doing so much in such a short amount of time!” Sawamura felt awful because Yuuji infused his own magic to make the ink come alive. He only handled one or two people a day. Doing ten was out of the question but Sawamura hated feeling vulnerable. 

“I apologize Hana.” Sawamura said softly. “Not ten then, of course not, I wasn’t thinking properly.” Hana sighed, long and drawn out. 

“He’ll do whatever you ask of him.” Hana spoke just as quietly. “Please do not ask him to do more than he can. Your appointment is at five, please do not eat before you come in.” The line went dead and Sawamura knew no amount of flowers or apologies were going to make it up to Hana this time. 

Sawamura put the phone away slowly, glancing over to the Nekoma members and he was thankful they hadn’t been eavesdropping. Sawamura rubbed a spot right above his heart, a mental wound that had never quite healed right. Sawamura knew Terushima’s feelings for him, the other man had never been exactly quiet or subtle about them. Terushima was the type of person to be in love with life itself, and Sawamura was certain the other man would move on from him soon enough. Those feelings only grew deeper, took root inside the other man, spread out into his very being, his life and love. 

Terushima never asked anything of Sawamura, so sometimes it was easy to forget how deeply the other man loved him. Sawamura felt a deep sense of guilt and shame, felt as if he was somehow using the other man, that maybe he should put some distance between them. When Sawamura had tried to do so Terushima showed up at the Agency. 

“I don’t put your safety below my feelings Daichi. You being safe is all that matters to me, please come back to the shop, your appointment is at three. Don’t keep me waiting, I’m a very important person, you know?” Sawamura had never been in love, though he knew of love. The love he felt for his parents and grandparents, his friends, and the newly required love for the members of his team. He loved Terushima, and that seemed enough for the other man so Sawamura let the subject drop.

“The cafeteria has good meatbuns.” Sawamura found himself saying as he walked over to the group of Nekoma members. They turned to him as a unit and Sawamura had to fight the urge to stiffen. “This room is booked by someone else so we’ll have to leave soon.” Sawamura shrugged, leaving it up to them but clearly they still wanted to spend time with the demon. Sawamura didn’t know why he offered to let them stay longer than absolutely necessary, except maybe the fact that thinking of Terushima always left him feeling a little soft. As if he had to be extra nice to everyone around him to make up for the guilt he felt. 

Sawamura sat down at a table occupied by Sugawara, who had his laptop set up and had surrounded the remaining table area with sweets and various pastries. Sawamura winced, feeling a toothache from just looking at the sweets. Sugawara smiled happily but continued to type away before turning his attention to Sawamura. 

“I was scolded by Hana.” Sawamura admitted, though he didn’t really expect any sympathy from Sugawara. “Do you think I’m doing something wrong?” Sawamura didn’t mention Terushima, didn’t have to because Sugawara was there for it. Sugawara was there for everything. 

“Daichi,” Sugawara sounded exasperated and fond, it was usually a tone reserved for their juniors, not Sawamura. “You’re like one of those diseases that just sits in a person's body, waits for the right opportunity and then bam- kills you in a day and you don’t even know you are sick in the first place.” Sawamura didn’t find this flattering at all.   
“Like an aneurysm?” Sawamura asked, appalled at the comparison. Sugawara laughed in response. 

“I meant people don’t even know they are in love with you until they are in the middle of it, and by then it’s too late.” Sugawara was grinning at him and Sawamura wished he had sat somewhere else. Had befriended someone who wasn’t so astute and kind of mean but in a way that showed he always cared about you. “You don’t blame a disease for just doing its job.” 

“I don’t like this analogy.” Sawamura grumbled, causing Sugawara to laugh again. 

“Daichi you’re not doing anything wrong, you can’t force yourself to have feelings for someone that aren’t there.” Sugawara sounded a little bitter near the end and Sawamura sat up a little straighter at the tone, but the ash hair colored man was already waving him off. “Whether or not people fall in love with you is not your problem, you treat them well afterwards and you never make them believe you feel anything beyond friendship with them.” Sawamura wasn’t sure why he was feeling even more guilty now than he had at the beginning of the conversation. 

“There you are.” Asahi and Nishinoya jogged up to their table, and it became obvious why Sugawara was doing his work in the small cafeteria and not in his office. “Ukai wants us to check out a disturbance in westside.” Where all the decrepit buildings turned silent empty mausoleums were. Where Hinata had made half a block disappear. 

“No.” Sugawara said firmly, but he was looking at Sawamura, who was pushing himself out of his chair. “Don’t think Watari didn’t tell me that you’re supposed to be on bedrest but you bullied your way out of it.” Sawamura was honestly a little hurt, he had never bullied anyone, especially Watari, despite the fact the doctor had sold him out to Oikawa a couple days prior. “Asahi and I should be fine.” 

“Take Noya with you at least.” Nishinoya cheered. Sawamura watched as they walked out of the cafeteria and he sighed at the mess Sugawara left him to clean up. He cleaned up the mess and walked over the table with the four Nekoma members. 

“I have an appointment at five.” Sawamura said after a polite nod to the other men at the table. The demon looked happier than Sawamura had seen him, smirking and joking around with the other members. Sawamura made sure to pointedly ignore how all their eyes were suspiciously watery. 

“Oh, sounds mysterious.” The demon laughed as he stood up in one graceful movement. It seemed like he was getting the hang of his new golem-body. Sawamura was horrendously curious about how exactly the golem body worked but he wasn’t about to ask the demon. Sawamura let them say their goodbyes in private with promises to see him again soon. 

Magic Ink was only a couple blocks away from the Agency building so they started walking, silence wrapping like too-tight sweaters around them. Uncomfortable and itchy.   
“Aren’t you supposed to be trying to figure out if I’m evil or not?” The demon finally asked, looking vaguely annoyed. Sawamura felt like it was a fair assessment, he was supposed to be doing that but he was not sure how to even figure something like that out. 

“Assuming your endgame is to return to your life before you-” Sawamura made a vague motion because he wasn’t sure if died was the correct term. Had his physical form vaporized? No, that sounds like something in one of Nishinoya’s comics. “How are you going to go back?” When everyone had thought he was dead, had probably attended his funeral. 

“I have my ways.” The demon deflected, which was fair enough since Sawamura hadn’t exactly answered his question either. He had no idea how he was supposed to figure out the nature of a demon when neither of them were willing to budge.

The rest of the walk was done in silence. 

They approached a large black building with no sign or letters to indicate what it was. From the ground to the top was large windows, but they were tinted black so you only saw the reflection of the street projected back at you. Sawamura knew from experience that inside was a different story. You could look out at the street without being seen, Sawamura guessed that Terushima did this on purpose because he had voyeuristic tendencies and it was a little funny to see how people reacted when they thought they were looking in a mirror and not a window. 

“The mystery deepens.” The demon said quietly, but loudly enough to make sure Sawamura heard. He seemed to have lost his melancholy air as the mystery of where Sawamura was dragging him brought his spirits back up. 

Sawamura pulled open the mirrored door, cringing at his appearance. The slacks and white button up were new, the tan trench coat plain but fit well but somehow Sawamura still looked a mess. He needed a serious haircut because his hair tended to be a bit crazy when it was longer than half an inch. He had deep, dark bruises under his eyes and his usually tan skin had an unhealthy yellow undertone to it. No wonder people had been wincing whenever they saw him. 

“No way.” The demon whispered in wonder as they both walked into the building. There was a large black marble front counter set up, Hana organizing papers behind it was petite and friendly looking. 

“Evening Hana.” Sawamura said hesitantly as he walked up to the counter. Hana’s soft brown eyes looked him over and he must have truly looked as bad as he felt because she sighed and patted his cheek. 

“You need to take better care of yourself Daichi.” Was all Hana said before the demon was slamming into the counter next to him, looking giddy and excited. 

“So let me get this straight, you not only go to Magic Ink but you go often enough that you know the staff by first name?” He was practically bouncing. “I take back every bad thing I’ve said about you.” 

“What bad things?” Sawamura asked instantly, though maybe he didn’t want to know what the Nekoma members thought about him.

“Daichi!” Terushima’s booming voice interrupted the conversation, dragging everyone’s attention over to the lithe-looking blonde. Terushima was exactly the type of person you would assume ran a magical tattoo shop. He was covered in tattoos, mostly non-magical but no less beautiful. Colorful watercolors spreading across his forearms, graceful arching thin black lines peaking over the collar of his shirt. His ears were pierced from tip to lobe, along with snake bite piercings beneath his lower lip and a tongue ring completed the look. 

“Yuuji.” Sawamura accepted the warm, tight hug from the man who was about the same height as him, but Terushima was built more on the leaner side. Terushima leaned back and patted Sawamura’s cheek in an echo of Hana’s earlier motion. 

“Am I going to be able to see the process?” The demon asked excitedly, jerking Terushima’s attention to him. 

“Sessions are-” Terushima paused, looking the demon up and down before a grin spread over his face. “Private, sorry. I would love to get my hands on your body. To tattoo it, of course.” Sawamura rolled his eyes as Hana tossed a rolled-up piece of paper at Terushima, hitting him dead center of his chest. 

“Of course.” The demon smirked back, clearly not disliking the attention. 

“Hana?” Sawamura asked and the brunette woman nodded. 

“I’ll keep him company.” Hana said happily. 

“If you could order some food?” Sawamura pulled out some cash, handing it over to Hana and purposely ignoring the thoughtful look on the demon’s face. “We’ll be here for a while, I can’t eat but you should.” The thoughtful looked turned to one of surprise and Sawamura found himself turning around quickly and dodging behind the door that lead to Terushima’s work room. Sawamura knew his actions or words hadn’t been exactly kind up to that point, but the demon couldn’t move far without Sawamura and he wasn’t going to starve him to death. 

“Where did you find that tall drink of water?” Terushima watched far too many western cowboy movies. Sawamura didn’t see the appeal but Terushima liked mimicking the speech and slang. 

“He was summoned.” Sawamura sat down on the chair for the patrons, black and clean and sterile but surprisingly comfortable. Sawamura knew he had to tell Terushima at least part of what happened, because he had to take off his shirt for the other man to tattoo him, he’d see the contract on his forearm. 

Terushima began gathering his supplies, making a small motion for him to continue. Sawamura gave him the condensed version, wincing at the story even in its shortened form. Sawamura hung his coat on the coat hanger on the back of the door before reseating himself on the chair. He unbuttoned his shirt before pulling off the white shirt beneath it. 

“Let me see it.” Terushima took his arm, turning it this way and that way. The contract no longer looked like it had been branded onto his arm, it could almost blend in with his other tattoos if it wasn’t for the twisting and looping red lines that ran through it. 

“Is there anyway for you to hide it?” It wasn’t as if Sawamura went around shirtless or anything, but his forearms were bared quite often, especially in training or working out. 

“I think so.” Terushima then began examining the rest of Sawamura. “Daichi- what the fuck?” Sure, go bound yourself to a demon but use that many magical tattoos in one night? That was a big no-no to Terushima. Sawamura fought a relieved smile because he had been dreading telling Terushima about the demon contract, he should have known better.

“That’s not all.” Sawamura said because he had to be honest. He tapped his thighs and Terushima leaned back, scowl intensifying as he stared Sawamura down. Or at least he tried to. 

“We’ll do 3 four hour sessions, that should replace everything you’ve lost.” Terushima backed down, shoulders slumping and Sawamura nudged him with his foot. “No, stop that, I’m mad, but as fucking angry at you as I am- I know you did what you did because you had to protect people and all that self-sacrificing bullshit you believe in but I wish you would stop every once and awhile and think about all the people who are going to be devastated when you take things too far.” Terushima’s hand was wrapped tightly around Sawamura’s ankle, his eyes downcast, his voice broken. 

“I’m sorry Yuuji.” Sawamura said sincerely, though he was not sure he would do anything differently if he had to repeat the past. “I do care about my wellbeing-” 

“You just care more about others, I know.” Terushima grumbled, pushing Sawamura so he was laying down and he pulled on gloves with a professional snap with he continued to call Sawamura names under his breath. 

“Do you think there are such things as good demons?” Sawamura asked to distract himself from the pain. Magical tattoos hurt and ached because they were etching themselves into skin and soul, the very spirit of a person. Sawamura’s body and soul were covered in old scars because magical tattoos were meant for one-time uses, not to be drawn over and over. His body was a mish-mash of tattoos and scars, a tool Sawamura used because he could barely look at the damage he had put himself through. 

“Do I believe that anything is inherently good or evil?” Terushima huffed out, still sounding angry and put out before he sighed, needle dragging against skin and leaving hard black lines behind. “I don’t know man, I leave that philosophical bullshit up to other people. What I do know is humans don’t all fall into one category or the other, neither do fae or magical creatures or anything really.” So why should demons? Sawamura heard the unvoiced question, gritting his teeth against the pain. 

“That doesn’t really help me at all.” Sawamura said, glad he didn’t voice the soft whine he wanted to let out at the pain. 

“Well maybe you should refer to him by his name.” Terushima backed off, looking over his work with a critical eye before grabbing a small water bottle filled with clear liquid that sparkled gold. Terushima sprayed the water bottle over the newly finished tattoo. The liquid stuck to the tattoo, shifting and moving until it traced along the lines Terushima had made before slowly absorbing into the skin. Sawamura let out a soft sigh of relief at the cooling effect. 

“What?” Sawamura asked as Terushima went back to his little table of supplies, adjusting things and adding more ink as Sawamura let his eyes close. 

“Daichi, you’ve just been calling him the demon.” Sawamura opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling because Terushima was right, even in his own mind he had been referring to him as ‘the demon’. 

“Kuroo Tetsurou.” Sawamura tried the name out as Terushima rolled back. He had been unconsciously trying to remind himself that the other man was a demon. 

“Tell me the story again of how you ended up in team Karasuno, group of misfits.” Terushima grinned as he leant back over, now working on Sawamura’s other bicep.   
“Why do you want to hear that story?” Sawamura grimaced as the needle touched skin and soul. 

“Because I love me some bad ass Daichi.” Terushima answered honestly, eyes fixated on the curves and lines he was making. “People think you landed the job because you’re there to reform all the bad kids with your strict and rule abiding ways, but there’s a couple of us who know better. You don’t break rules just to do it, but you don’t let them interfere when you believe in something either. So this other group broke all the rules to summon a demon, but what if he is exactly what they say he is? Wouldn’t you break all the rules to save someone you love?” Yes, it was the immediate response because Sawamura had already done that, it was how he ended up in Karasuno in the first place. 

“Most people just think you’re a pretty face with some good magical genes.” Sawamura said conversationally. 

“Please don’t argue otherwise Daichi, I’ve worked hard for my reputation.” Terushima shot him a grin, eyes lighting up deviously. Sawamura had worked hard for his too. Perhaps the demon- no, perhaps Kuroo had worked and scraped and bled for his the same way Sawamura and Terushima had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tattoos are my weakness!
> 
> Big thanks to **audriel** for editing!


	5. Sawamura Daichi and the Curse

“They don’t really fit your image.” Kuroo spoke up for the first time since they had left Magic Ink together. They were at a hole-in-the-wall ramen shop because Sawamura needed to eat badly and most of the stores were already closed for the night since it was already after 9. Sawamura was too bone-tired to do anything but eat his noodles as quickly as possible but he raised an eyebrow to encourage Kuroo to continue if he wanted. “The tattoos. You’re so- such an upstanding citizen, the tattoos are shocking.” 

Usually the tattoos hurt, but the pain faded to a dull ache that went away in a couple days but Sawamura was still exhausted from expending all his energy several days ago and his body wasn’t handling the newest additions to his skin and soul very well. He was planning on eating another bowl, heading back to the agency, and spending the night in the infirmary. He had the night shift at the Agency, plus he didn’t really feel comfortable just yet taking Kuroo to his apartment. He had just stopped referring to the other being as ‘the demon’. Baby steps. 

“I don’t make a habit of using them.” Sawamura answered truthfully. He had worked hard to become adept at defensive spells, too hard to rely too much on the tattoos. They were in case of emergencies only, a backup plan if A through Z plans failed him. He had only started getting them less than five years prior. 

“But it just doesn’t fit your image.” Kuroo said as he pushed his empty bowl away from him. Sawamura ordered another bowl and took a sip of his drink while he waited for Kuroo to continue. “You’re so sturdy, so stalwart.” Sawamura couldn’t help the grin that played around his lips. “Why aren’t you getting upset?” 

“What’s wrong with being sturdy or stalwart?” Sawamura asked back, shifting slightly on the uncomfortable stool as he glanced over at Kuroo. The taller man seemed nearly disappointed that he couldn’t get a rise out of Sawamura. 

“I guess nothing, but it’s so boring.” Kuroo gave him a sidelong glance, as if boring was the worst insult Sawamura could have been called. 

“I guess I’m boring then.” Sawamura shrugged. 

“Except for the tattoos.” Kuroo spoke up then leaned forward, warm breath on Sawamura’s neck. “And the demon contract.” He sat back, looking smug because he had finally pulled a reaction from Sawamura. 

“Thank you.” Sawamura said to the man who handed him another bowl of ramen and he immediately started to eat it. There were many more things that made Sawamura not-boring but he wasn’t about to tell a demon hellbent on getting a rise out of him anything. 

“You don’t need to keep paying for my stuff either.” Sawamura raised his eyebrows, noticing that Kuroo said that after Sawamura had already paid. “Kenma brought a card for me so I have money, everything went to him when I-” Kuroo made a waving motion with his hand before letting it drop to the counter. 

It made sense. Working at the Agency wasn’t exactly the safest job, they all had wills written up on their first days. Sawamura collected grimoires, old dusty books filled with rants and spells and drawings and recipes, hand written and sometimes illegible or in different languages. Those would go to Terushima, who would love them and hate that Sawamura never let him see them while he was alive. 

Sawamura had gone back and forth on who he’d give his grandparents’ house and land and the little shrine generations of Sawamuras had taken care of up on an isolated mountain, but the decision had ultimately been easy. It would go to Asahi, gentle-hearted Asahi who would love the isolation of the forest and the quiet magical hum of the earth beneath his feet. His mother's extensive collection of kimonos, obis, and yukatas would go Kiyoko. It seemed like the best option, though the powerful witch Kiyoko was difficult to read at the best of times, Sawamura knew she would understand the gesture. 

The rest would go to Sugawara. The nice amount of money he had gained due to the fact Sawamura lived sparsely, though he knew Sugawara wouldn’t care much about that. The old steamer trunk full of his parents’ love letters to each other when they were younger and his mother had been in an arranged marriage to another man. The few pictures he had of himself as a small baby or child with his parents before they were taken from him. His grandmother’s quilt. Other knick knacks and small pieces that wouldn’t make up for the fact that Sawamura Daichi was dead. 

“You need clothes.” Sawamura spoke up and Kuroo jumped, blinking his eyes as if he had been half-asleep. 

“Amongst other things, yeah.” Kuroo looked amused as Sawamura sighed. It was too late to go shopping now. 

“Shit.” Sawamura said with feeling because he couldn’t remember the last time he went shopping for himself, let alone with another person. Mostly he just bought things online, multiple packs of undershirts because he was always ruining his, crisp white button ups, various food items, toothpaste. He tried not to think about how pathetic that made him and instead thought it was because he was busy. 

“Yeah.” Kuroo was laughing in his face and Sawamura was grumbling into his mostly empty bowl. 

 

\------ 

 

“Sawamura!” Sawamura was being shaken and his fist whipped out before he could think about it because he always woke up a little violent, which was why most people made Sugawara wake him. Tanaka, the one doing the shaking, was quick to dodge the fist and pull Sawamura up into a sitting position. 

“What-” 

“Noya hasn’t come back yet, neither has Asahi or Suga.” Tanaka’s fingers were opening and closing into fists as Sawamura scrambled up from his bed in the infirmary. 

“Time?” Sawamura asked, mouth feeling like cotton as pulled out a duffle bag full of spare clothes. Sawamura had a tendency to sleep at the office a lot. 

“Nearly one.” Tanaka was clearly impatient but he knew better than to rush Sawamura, who was moving swiftly as he pulled off his sleep clothes and pulled on a pair of slacks and a long sleeved black shirt before shoving his feet into his shoes. Kuroo had pulled the curtain separating his bed from Sawamura’s and was staring at Tanaka, who bit back whatever rude thing he was about to say to Kuroo. 

“Call everyone, I want them all in my office as soon as possible.” Tanaka nodded and ran off, Sawamura rubbed a hand over his face, thinking that a couple hours of sleep will just have to do before he pulled out his own phone. 

Calling Sugawara, Asahi, and Nishinoya earned him nothing but voicemail, which wasn’t that surprising. Tanaka would have called them before disturbing Sawamura, but he needed to make sure. He called Ukai next, filling him in on the situation and earning an approval to take the rest of Karasuno and figure out what happened. 

Half an hour later everyone was filed into his office, and it showed the discipline of the so-called team of troublemakers that no one questioned Kuroo’s presence or Sawamura’s direct orders. Yamaguchi was to stay behind and Sawamura could see the reluctance on his face but he nodded and accepted the order. Sawamura wanted to leave behind Kuroo too, but the contract wouldn’t allow that so he had no choice but to take him. 

They all split up and grab supplies before meeting back up at the front of the Agency. Sawamura drove one of the small, black nondescript vans while Narita drove the other. It was easy enough to find the building the missing Agency members were supposed to be investigating, it was practically pulsing with black energy and if Sawamura hadn’t trained intensively, he would be feeling the effects from it. The most junior members look a little pallid and Ennoshita, the empath, was paler than usual but for the most part everyone looked fine. 

Sawamura and Kuroo had talked briefly in the van about what kind of magic Kuroo was best at. Sawamura had been surprised when Kuroo had said blocking spells, mostly a defensive ability. That left Sawamura, Ennoshita, and Kuroo for defense. Tsukishima, Narita, and Kinoshita for range. Hinata and Tanaka for power and Kageyama to fill in any gaps left. Sawamura divided everyone up quickly and efficiently before taking lead. He pulled his power up to the surface, weaving together basic spells with softly spoken words and gentle twists of his fingers. He felt the others doing the same. Kinoshita readied his bow while Narita loaded his crossbow, Tsukishima fingers glowed with a spell. Tanaka warmed Sawamura’s back with the push of his power. 

Sawamura breathed deeply, readying himself and the others before pushing open the door. They were attacked from the start. 

Nubing demons dropped from the ceiling and swarmed the area. Long formless creatures with no discernible features except a large, always gaping mouth and several thick weaving tentacles that slammed into them. 

Spelled arrows whistled past Sawamura, aiming for the soft spots inside the mouths and exploding and burning on fire. Sawamura slammed up barriers, protecting his team as they pushed forward, Tanaka cutting through with thick silver gauntlets covering his hands and wrists, obliterating the demons with a harsh yell. 

“Sawamura, Azumane is over to the left.” Ennoshita says through a grimace, sweat dripping down his face as he tried to pinpoint their missing team members amongst the chaos of the fight. Tsukishima was standing near him, knocking back any creature that got too close because Ennoshita was a low-level empath and it took quite a bit of concentration for him to expand his area. Sawamura took it as a good thing that Ennoshita could feel Asahi at all, since the dead didn’t have emotions for an empath to suss out. 

Sawamura heard Tanaka cuss as he finally made it to Asahi. Sawamura glanced over to see Azumane half-covered by some sort of parasite demon. Other demons rushed Tanaka and Sawamura tossed up a barrier that flamed up when the demons made contact with it. Tanaka never lost focus, trusting that Sawamura would protect him while he called for Tsukishima. Tanaka’s power was like a bulldozer, good for clearing away large groups of demons but parasites needed a more delicate touch. 

A cut against Sawamura’s jaw pulled his attention back to the never-ending swarm. He was bleeding from several places because he was more concentrated on protecting his team than himself, but they were mostly small injuries. Nubings weren’t very strong on their own and couldn’t do much damage, but they were never in small groups, they nested and multiplied like termites inside wooden walls. 

Kinoshita was down but Kuroo and Narita were protecting him. Ennoshita was reaching his limit, blood dripping out of his nose and ears as he squinted against the built-up pain in his head before stumbling over to Tanaka, who had finally managed to get Asahi free of the parasite demon with Tsukishima’s help. There were painful looking blisters cover where the parasite had latched on, but he was alive and that was what mattered. Ennoshita motioned to a wall covered in the parasite demon, which resembled thick, puke-green spider webbing. With dawning horror Sawamura could see a vague shape underneath the webbing. 

Nishinoya, covered completely by the parasite. 

Tsukishima was leaning over Asahi, shoulders slumped and breathing heavily. Whatever he did to detach the parasite from Asahi had wiped him out completely. 

Sawamura called for everyone to pull back and group tightly before he slammed up a barrier. The few demons stuck inside were quickly dealt with as Sawamura swiped a hand through a shallow cut on his side, using his own blood to draw sigils in the air and pressing them against his barrier. The barrier solidified and the demons began to slam up against it. 

“Tanaka?” Sawamura called, his voice hoarse and his throat hurt but he ignored the pain. 

“He’s alive but I don’t know how to get him out.” Tanaka said with frustration. Parasite demons were less sentient than most, akin to something like algae than anything else. They grew and spread and sucked the life out of anyone who stumbled into them. Sawamura didn’t understand why they were here along with the Nubings, who devoured their chosen prey whole and slowly digested them. 

“Tsukishima the spell you used, can you teach it to Kageyama ?” Sawamura asked and it showed how worn out Tsukishima was that instead of a snide comment, he thought it over before nodding his blonde head. Kageyama crouched near Tsukishima, his face twisted up with concentration as Tsukishima explained the spell he had used.  
Lightning cracks appeared in the barrier. Sawamura was running out of time. 

“Ennoshita do you feel Suga at all?” Sawamura asked quietly. Ennoshita grimaced, closing his eyes before slowly shaking his head. Sawamura took a deep breath as he looked around. 

They were completely surrounded and there seemed no end to the creatures. Tsukishima, Kinoshita, Ennoshita, and Asahi were down. Everyone looked exhausted besides for maybe Hinata, who was wiping blood off his forehead as he watched the surrounding demons with glowing ember eyes. 

“Hinata,” The name felt thick in Sawamura’s throat but he had a job, a duty to get everyone out and home safely. Asahi and Nishinoya needed immediate medical attention. “Hinata.” Sawamura said louder, his mind screaming at him even as he came to a decision. 

“Sawamura?” Hinata turned to him, an intense look that sent a chill down Sawamura’s back as the sprite tilted his head. It was times like this that it became blatantly obvious that Hinata was something other even if the glowing eyes didn’t give it away first. 

“I’m going to make a circle with sigils, when the time comes I need you to pour as much magic as you can into it, without hurting yourself.” Sawamura wondered if this was the best course of action even as he said it. Hinata nodded as Sawamura once again used his blood to start drawing sigils, this time on the floor right on the inside the barrier. 

“You think that is possible with as many people as we have?” Kuroo asked, clearly catching onto what spell Sawamura was working. Sawamura thought of the empty half city block Hinata had made disappear and knew it was their best option. 

Transportation spells were a specialty on their own. Sawamura had been practicing them since he was 18. Nearly a decade later he could successfully transport his stapler from his office to Sugawara’s. They required more magic than Sawamura would ever know in his lifetime but Hinata? Hinata might just be able to pull it off. 

“What about Suga?” Narita asked and Sawamura averted his eyes just as Tanaka let out a loud cheer as him and Kageyama pulled Nishinoya into the middle of their circle. Nishinoya looked even worse than Asahi, it was hard to look at him without feeling your stomach churn painfully. 

Sugawara would understand, but more importantly he would make Sawamura do this. Make the decision to leave Sugawara behind because they were out of options and they needed to get out now. 

Tanaka’s fingers dug into Sawamura’s shoulder, his face an angry mask cracked through with pain and acceptance. 

“We’ll come back with the entire Agency if we have to.” Tanaka swore and Sawamura nodded firmly before standing up. 

“Hinata, are you ready?” The barrier was full of lightning cracks, edges burning away as the demons continued to beat at it. Everyone pushed together, grabbing fistful of clothing and wrists and hands that were available. Sawamura crouched behind Hinata, motioning where to put his hands before he grabbed a handful of the back of Hinata’s jacket. 

The barrier shattered and Sawamura yelled. There was a blinding flash, unbearable heat that sucked the air from his lungs. Weight pressed against Sawamura, grinding his bones and if he could, he would have screamed. 

Sawamura slammed into the ground. His ears popped and his eyes watered as he sucked in lungfuls of air, gasping and choking as he stumbled into a standing position, trying to pull on magic and muscles that just weren’t working. 

Sawamura gasped and forced his vision to focus, made his body cooperate as he looked around to make sure that his team was there and they were safe. Everyone was on the ground, seeming to have as much trouble as he did focusing and forcing air into their lungs. Sawamura counted up his numbers before looking around, noting they were in the training room at the agency. 

“Medics.” Sawamura’s voice came out as a harsh whisper. He winced before stumbling to the door. “Medics.” He choked and coughed before screaming the word down the hall. People rushed out of offices and around corners, pushing into the training room and surrounding the Karasuno members. 

Asahi and Nishinoya were taken away first. Kinoshita had a deep gash on his head, his eyes didn’t really focus on any one thing and Sawamura was sure he had a concussion but he waved off the medics and waved them over to Ennoshita and Tsukishima. Ukai and Iwaizumi crouched down in front of Sawamura and he couldn’t really remember when he sat on the ground but he told them everything from start to finish as Iwaizumi patched up the couple injuries he had. 

“Suga-” Sawamura starts but Ukai was already shaking his head. 

“Most of Aoba Johsai is here, they will go-” 

“I’m going.” Sawamura said firmly. Ukai and Iwaizumi exchanged a look but Sawamura was already pushing himself to his feet. 

“Sawamura-” Iwaizumi pressed a firm hand against his shoulder. “Daichi, trust us to handle this. You did what you could and you got your team out. Let us go back and take care of the rest.” Sawamura knew he was being willfully stubborn, knew that he couldn’t insert himself into another team at the drop of a hat and expected things to go smoothly. He had never trained with anyone from Aoba Johsai besides Iwaizumi, and a few sparring matches with Oikawa. He was dead on his feet and bleeding from several different spots. 

“I’m sorry, I know, I know.” Sawamura rubbed a hand over his face, smearing blood and dirt. “You need to talk to Kageyama, the parasite demons.” His words were stilted, barely understandable but Iwaizumi nods. Tsukishima had probably passed out by now but Kageyama, looking pale and winded, knew the spell to remove to the parasites. Iwaizumi walked over to Kageyama, who stiffened but nodded and started explaining the spell. 

“Come on, you’ve scared off most of the medics but you really need to go down to the infirmary.” Ukai’s tone left no room for arguments and after a small assessment, Sawamura realized that the rest of his team, tired and beat up, were doing better than him. Sawamura leaned heavily against Ukai as they headed slowly towards the infirmary. “Aoba Johsai is competent, they’ll finish the job.” Competent was an understatement that made Sawamura chuckle despite the tense situation. 

“Ukai!” Takeda was running, well more like stumbling down the hall. His hair was messier than usual, his glasses askew and he was wearing a shirt that was about two sizes too big. If Sugawara wasn’t missing Sawamura would laugh at Ukai’s red face as he stared at the shirt that was obviously his. As if the relationship between the younger Ukai and the professor of magical studies and Ukai’s assistant, Takeda wasn’t the worst kept secret in the Agency. “O-oh, I’m sorry! Sawamura, a-are you okay? Sorry, s-stupid question!” Sometimes Takeda could be poetically eloquent, but most of the time his nerves got the better of him. 

“I can help him to the infirmary.” Kuroo spoke up. Ukai gave him a long look before nodding and walking over to Takeda. Sawamura leaned up against the wall, taking deep breaths as he watched Ukai and Takeda walk back down the hall, words exchanging rapidly between the two. 

“Have you ever seen demons work together like that?” Sawamura asked once the hall was clear. Kuroo frowned, looking away and Sawamura blinked in surprise when he realized Kuroo looked hurt of all things. “I’m asking one team leader to another, not because-” Sawamura motioned vaguely to his arm where the contract was hidden beneath the tattoos Terushima put over it. 

“Oh.” Kuroo smiled sheepishly before running a hand through his hair. 

“Though if you do have insider knowledge that might be helpful too.” Sawamura couldn’t help but add because he had to ask, even if it hurt Kuroo’s feelings. 

“No I haven’t, not as an Agency member and not as anything else either.” Kuroo pushed his hands deep within his pockets. “They just don’t do that, not unless something or someone else is controlling them but I don’t know of anyone powerful enough to be able to control them on that level.” Because the Nubing demons had obviously ambushed Sugawara, Asahi, and Nishinoya the same way they ambushed the rest of the team but instead of consuming them, they handed them over to parasite demons. 

“The Nubings weren’t moving from that building either.” Sawamura pushed himself off the wall before starting the slow walk towards the infirmary. Kuroo fell into step beside him, his gait easy and looping. “Thank you for looking after Kinoshita.” 

“Well that’s progress.” Kuroo smirked and Sawamura raised an eyebrow in question. “You didn’t immediately assume that I had snuck up on him myself.” Sawamura only resisted rolling his eyes because even raising an eyebrow had ached, he couldn’t bring forth the energy for a believable eye roll. 

“We all look out for each other, your team most likely operates the same way. Kinoshita has Ennoshita and Narita watching his back.” Kinoshita had taken the hit because he had stepped in the way of a spell gone awry, one that had rebounded and nearly hit Ennoshita. “About a week ago there was a Suswie demon in a warehouse about three blocks away from where we were.” 

“Is that area on a leyline?” Kuroo asked. Leylines were the way people explained why an area was more magic-bound than others. If more than one leyline crossed that area became known as a high concentrated area, usually dangerous. 

“Yes.” Sawamura answered in slight surprise. Sawamura did not have much interaction with other sections and the Agencies set up in those areas, so it was a shocking reminder that not everyone knew about the West section Karasuno was in charge of and the reason why it had caused them the unfortunate nickname of the Fallen Giants. 

“Sawamura.” A soft voice called out, interrupting before Sawamura could explain further. 

“Kiyoko, thank you for coming.” Sawamura stepped forward to the black-haired witch, who pushed her hair behind her ear and gave him a small smile. “Hello Yachi.” 

“O-oh! Hello S-Sawamura!” Yachi bowed, half hiding behind Kiyoko. Yachi’s large eyes travelled over to Kuroo before she gasped and hid fully behind Kiyoko, who was studying Kuroo before she returned her attention back to Sawamura. Kiyoko once said that Yachi had the sight which was why her nerves were always frayed. Sawamura wanted to ask what Yachi saw when she looked at Kuroo, the golem or demon or something even worse, but he had other things to contend with and asking Yachi to describe what she saw always made her nerves all that much worse. 

“Hello Yachi.” Sawamura tried to sound as warm as possible. They all followed him towards the infirmary as Sawamura explained the varying degrees of injuries to his team. Watari looked relieved when he spotted Kiyoko. 

“Sawamura please sit down before you pass out.” was all Watari said to him, exasperation barely concealing worry, as Kiyoko and Yachi follow him over to Nishinoya, who had the worst of injuries. Sawamura sat down on an unoccupied bed but stayed vertical because he was afraid the moment he went horizontal he’d fall asleep, and he refused to do that until Sugawara- until he knew. 

Instead of worrying about things out of his control, he took stock of his agents. Hinata was sitting on a bed with Kageyama, both with a bowl of soup in their hands that they were eating with their usual gusto. Hinata had a small cut through his left eyebrow and Kageyama looked paler than usual but a young nurse handed them water and they looked, for the most part, fine. Tsukishima was unconscious and hooked up to an IV, Yamaguchi was helping remove his shoes before pulling a blanket over the magic exhausted young man. Tanaka was leaning against the wall, pale and dirty and bloody but his eyes were clear as he stares at Nishinoya, as if thinking if he looked away the other man might disappear. Nishinoya was probably the worst, though Kiyoko was pulling a few items out of her bag and talking quickly and quietly to a nodding Watari. Sawamura knew their Guardian Deity was in safe hands with those two. 

Ennoshita was not there, but that was only to be expected. After having his senses overloaded he would need a quiet, solitary place to recover and the infirmary had a small room towards the back that would serve that purpose. Kinoshita was laying in bed with gauze around his head, being fussed over by Narita, who appeared the best out of everyone. Asahi was in the bed next to Sawamura, half his face, neck and torso covered with yellow-green blisters that made Sawamura’s stomach clench tightly. 

“You were about to explain something?” Kuroo appeared by his side, holding two bowls of soup.

Sawamura rubbed his eyes, wondering if he had fallen asleep while staring at Asahi before taking one of the bowls with a grunt of thanks. Kuroo hesitated before sitting next to him on the bed, leaving a large space between them. 

“Have you heard Karasuno referred to as the Fallen Giants?” Sawamura asked after a couple spoonfuls of blessedly hot soup. 

“Something about a curse?” Kuroo raised his brows, showing how little stock he put into that particular rumor. 

“Close enough.” Sawamura felt like they were cursed. “A couple decades ago, Karasuno used to be a power-team, until the entirety of the field team vanished in the west section of our area.” Sawamura let that sink in for a moment as he finished off his soup. Most teams, like Aoba Johsai or Nekoma had a field team, those specialized in offensive and defensive magic who completed tasks out in the city, and the office team, who stayed at the Agency buildings and offered technical and magical support. Karasuno was currently so small that all of its members worked in the field and office. Several decades ago Karasuno had 24 field members and 29 office members. 

“A whole team vanished?” Kuroo asked in disbelief. 

“Five bodies were eventually found, burnt down to skeletons, but that left nearly twenty members unaccounted for.” Sawamura handed his empty bowl over to a nurse with a grateful smile. Another nurse came up and began to check his wounds over, Kuroo remained silent the entire time. 

“Let me guess, the days leading up to the disappearance of an entire Agency field team were fraught with increased activity in the west section?” Sawamura nodded and Kuroo looked away, eyes downcast. “No offense but why even keep Karasuno after that?” 

“They didn’t, our team was shut down after the disappearance, the office members were spread out into different teams and Karasuno was disbanded.” Sawamura sighed. “Until five years ago.” 

“For fuck’s sake Sawamura.” Sawamura would have laughed if he wasn’t so tired and didn’t ache all over. “Why would you even agree to lead this team?” It had been a choice between leading Karasuno or being dishonorably discharged. At the time the choice had seemed clear, but Sawamura wasn’t too sure about that anymore. 

Sawamura turned back to look at Tanaka because he was not quite comfortable enough with Kuroo to start spilling his darkest secrets, and it was obvious that the demon was hiding things from Sawamura too. Yachi was standing in front of Tanaka, hands gentle as she wraps gauze around bruised and bloodied knuckles. They all have physical weapons because magic, like technology, could fail you at the worst of times. Tanaka’s weapon was his body, magic pulsed lightly around and in his muscles. On a good day Tanaka could punch clear through a concrete wall with very little effort. 

Tanaka took his eyes off Nishinoya to look down at Yachi, a clear loving look broke through his worry. It was such a raw and emotional look Sawamura almost felt like an intruder seeing it. Yachi had been terrified of Tanaka when she first met him, but despite his sharp features and mean looks, the bald-headed man was undeniably soft towards those he cared about. His never-quit attitude and constant stream of affectionate words earned him a clear place in Yachi’s heart, right next to Kiyoko. 

Their relationship was an easy one, despite Tanaka living in the city during the week for his job at the Agency. For the weekends he was always back in Miyagi, living in the shared apartment above Kiyoko and Yachi’s apothecary shoppe. Sawamura felt the familiar tug beneath his rib cage whenever he saw the three together. Not quite the ugly feeling of jealousy, but something closer to want. Sawamura slept more nights in his office than in his apartment because no one cared if he came home. 

Kiyoko put a mud-brown concoction onto the blisters and boils on Nishinoya’s bicep, her hand was protected by a black glove. Watari leaned forward, brow furrowed in concentration and it was as if everyone in the room held their breath. Kiyoko used an atheme to scrap the brown potion off and even Sawamura had to look away as the blisters and boils scrap off with it. 

“Anyone with a weak stomach leave now.” Watari’s voice was strong and sure. Sawamura forced himself to look back. The newly revealed skin was a pinkish-red, like a bad sunburn but both Kiyoko and Watari looked relieved so Sawamura took it as a good sign. 

“Yamaguchi-” Sawamura started, about to tell Yamaguchi to take Kageyama and Hinata up to his office, where there was a futon in the closet. To make sure they get sleep because all three looked like they were about to be violently ill as Kiyoko and Watari worked together to put more of the clay-like potion all over Nishinoya’s body. But Oikawa shoved his way into the infirmary. 

“Shinji!” Sawamura stumbled to his feet because Oikawa had Sugawara thrown across his shoulder. Watari looked up from Nishinoya. 

“Put him on one of the beds.” Watari ordered, Hinata and Kageyama jumping up to offer the now unoccupied bed. 

“He’s barely breathing and he’s ice cold.” Oikawa looked shaken, pale and sweaty, body trembling. Sawamura had never seen the other man look even slightly off. Oikawa started sliding Sugawara off his shoulder and Hinata jumped over to help. 

“Shouyou no!” Yachi screamed.

Sugawara’s body spasmed, Oikawa scrambled to keep hold of him, and blood splattered across Hinata’s face. 

It was a trap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whenever I read a Haikyuu story I just need to know precious baby bird Tanaka is happy.
> 
> Thank you **audriel** for editing!!


	6. Sawamura Daichi and the Small Giant

_Too slow too slow too slow_ it was all Sawamura can think as he watched the creature scramble towards a shock-still Hinata. He was too far away to use his body as a shield and his magic wasn’t coming to his fingertips because Sugawara was used as some sort of incubation trap and Kageyama slammed Hinata out of the way, long sword arcing upwards as it cleaved the slimy blood and viscera covered creature in two. Hinata tumbled to the ground, grunting in pain but the two pieces of the creature were growing, becoming complete but it was all the time Sawamura needed. He slammed up a barrier before the two creatures hurled themselves at the ginger-haired man again. Hinata scrambled back as the creature had hit the barrier and rebounded off. 

“Stop you idiot!” Oikawa bellowed as Kageyama raised his sword again but Iwaizumi was already striding forward. 

“Trap them!” Iwaizumi ordered and Sawamura easily reversed the barrier until it became a transparent cage around the wiggling creatures. Iwaizumi pressed his hands against the barrier until the inside burst into flames, the creatures letting out a long, high pitch noise that made everyone cringe. 

“Is Sugawara-” Sawamura started but Watari had ordered Oikawa to put the gray-haired man down. Oikawa carefully laid Sugawara on the bed, on his stomach because the majority of the blood was soaking his back. Sawamura moved closer but made sure to stay out of Watari’s way. 

“He’s alive.” Watari said with a relieved sigh before he started cutting away the fabric of Sugawara’s jacket and shirt, revealing the huge open wound that expanded the length of his spine to the bottom of his neck to his lower back. “It’s tissue and muscle damage, organs and bones all are fine.” Watari muttered, mostly to himself but it made something tense settle inside Sawamura. 

“Yachi, do you see anything inside him?” Sawamura asked, turning towards the wall where Tanaka had Yachi held securely behind him. Kageyama was crouched near Hinata, fingers hovering above his shoulder as if he was not quite sure how to comfort someone who was in clear shock. Sawamura put Hinata on the backburner for now, until he knew Sugawara was out of danger. 

“He’s clear.” Yachi said, peering around Tanaka and looking Sugawara up and down. Watari seemed to be waiting for that answer because he was calling for spider silk and gauze and other healing items. Spider silk had nothing to do with spiders or silk, but it had the appearance of a spider web made of silk. It was placed over deep wounds, surprisingly sturdy for something so delicate looking. It was extremely expensive and rare, and would heal Sugawara’s wound within a week and there would be no possibility for infection with spider silk. 

“Hinata.” Kageyama grumbled and Sawamura took a step towards his juniors before something shoved him hard, making him trip over his own tired feet. 

“Oikawa.” Iwaizumi’s voice was deep with disapproval. Sawamura turned towards the man who shoved him, like they were children on a playground. Oikawa’s face was full of unconcealed bitterness and hatred. 

“You left him.” Oikawa accused and all the fight fled Sawamura because it was true. Sawamura had made the conscious decision to leave Sugawara because of the real possibility his team would have been overrun. He might have to explain his decision to leave Sugawara behind to a superior but never to someone in the same position as him. Despite the fact that Oikawa had always thought he was better than him. 

“Oikawa stop.” Iwaizumi tried again but Oikawa was too far gone to. Too angry and hurt and full of burning disdain. 

“You should have left, they should have fired you and sent you packing.” Oikawa was in Sawamura’s space now, using his height advantage to look down on Sawamura. “Instead you resurrect a team that should have stayed buried, you throw away people like they mean nothing and you leave nothing but dead bodies in your wake!” Sawamura stayed silent because he didn’t have anything to say, nothing would get through to Oikawa while he was in such a state. A small part of Sawamura might even think he deserved this, deserved to be yelled and shamed because half his team was hurt, lying unconscious in hospital beds. “You disregard safety as long as your objective is carried out, to hell with the rules and people if they get in your way!” 

“No don’t-” Watari’s voice broke into the silence before Oikawa was grunting and stumbling away from Sawamura. Sugawara was standing, just barely, fingers tightened into a fist he had obviously just slammed into Oikawa’s side, into the tender area beneath the ribs. 

“Go calm down somewhere else.” Sugawara’s voice was a harsh command, reminding everyone in the room of the authority he held despite his usual cheery words and warm smiles. 

“Koushi-” 

“Go.” Sugawara stared Oikawa down, not an easy feat. Oikawa deflated, all righteous anger leaving his body as he slumped forward and then turned on his heel to walk out. Iwaizumi slapped a hand between Sawamura’s shoulder blades, a painful hit before he followed his leader out. 

“That’s it!” Watari yelled angrily. “Get back on this bed right now Sugawara and Sawamura, see to your people and get the ones who don’t need to be here out of my ward.” Sawamura helped Sugawara lay back down on the bed, squeezing his shoulder gently and Sugawara grunted in acceptance. They’d talk later. 

“Tanaka, Narita, Kageyama, Hinata, and Yamaguchi.” Sawamura turned back to his team. “Go shower, change, eat and sleep. In that order. Do not leave this building.” Hinata looked like he had shaken off the shock himself, which was really not that surprising at all to anyone who knew Hinata Shouyou. He could be hurt quite easily but he never stayed down for long. 

No one argued with Sawamura. Though Tanaka pressed his lips together as he looked over at Nishinoya but he had faith in Kiyoko and with a little pulling from Yachi he left without argument. 

Sawamura turned to Kuroo, nodding towards the door and the other man followed him out. Sawamura couldn’t tell if Kuroo enjoyed the drama or was made uncomfortable about it. Sawamura felt like the demon was mostly just curious. If Sawamura wasn’t bone-deep tired he would probably be feeling anxious that Kuroo wasn’t saying anything.   
“That-” “Does-” They started at the same time and Kuroo nodded for Sawamura to continue. 

“Have you seen that type of creature before?” Sawamura asked but didn’t wait for Kuroo to answer before continuing on. “I could have sworn they burrowed their way into a body and incubated themselves for weeks, slowly multiplying before eating the person or creature or animal from the inside out and spreading themselves like wildfire.” Fire was the only way to destroy them. Sawamura vaguely remembered learning about a story in some small village in Russia that was completely overtaken by them. The Agency had to quarantine the area off and then they burnt it to the ground. 

“Rare.” Kuroo said after considering it for a moment. “I only know of two cases in the past century. I could have sworn they needed freezing cold temperatures.” Fall had just begun to take hold of Tokyo, no where near freezing temperatures. 

Sawamura knocked lightly on Director Ukai’s door, hearing a grunt from inside before he walked in, Kuroo following after. Director Ukai was sitting behind his desk, his grandson and Takeda taking up the chairs in front of it. Sawamura had been so tired he had forgotten for a moment what Kuroo was, how he had been pronounced dead a year ago and how was he going to explain that one? 

“Kuroo Tetsurou, right? Nekomata’s talked quite a bit about you.” Director Ukai said in his usual rough manner. Kuroo smirked and bowed politely. Sawamura felt something settle deep inside him because he was nearly certain Director Ukai knew exactly what Kuroo was, and he accepted it. Director Ukai was exactly like his grandson, gruff and brutally honest but he cared deeply for those under his care. He wouldn’t allow Kuroo to leave his office alive if he thought the demon would cause any harm to his own people. 

“It’s nice to meet you sir.” Kuroo sounded genuine. Sawamura had heard that Director Nekomata and Director Ukai were old friends and older rivals and it seemed to be true. 

“Nekomata is sending over a couple of your people to replace those injured in Karasuno.” Director Ukai sat back, assessing both Sawamura and Kuroo. “My useless grandson has told me his version of the story, now I want to hear yours.” Sawamura started from the beginning, Kuroo interrupting every once and awhile with a piece of information Sawamura had forgotten or hadn’t noticed because his focus was on other things. It was nearly unsettling how much Kuroo noticed, how he retained information and made use of it in a way Sawamura would never have thought about. 

“If you have something to add Sawamura, say it.” The younger Ukai grunted, fingers playing with an unlit cigarette. 

“It looked like to me that they were purposely targeting Hinata and Nishinoya.” Sawamura had been thinking about that for a while. Hinata was a power, he didn’t have a lot of knowledge but his power seemed almost limitless. Nishinoya was the backbone of their defense, taking out him left them weakened. 

“And Sawamura.” Kuroo spoke up, pulling attention to himself. Sawamura frowned at him and Kuroo smirked back. “You were too busy shielding everyone else, but their attack changed in the house when they realized the only way to get to Hinata was to take out you first.” Sawamura couldn’t refute that, without Nishinoya, Sawamura was clearly the next best in defense. Tsukishima was plenty skilled but he was still fairly young and inexperienced with actual combat, he wouldn’t be enough to guard the team if Sawamura fell. 

“Are you saying someone is purposely summoning and controlling these creatures and demons to attack and weaken Karasuno?” Director Ukai asked, his craggy face revealing nothing of his own thoughts or feelings. “Aoba Johsai went back to that warehouse and it was empty. Sugawara Koushi was left in the middle of the floor.” A trap, obvious and clear but Oikawa had been too panicked to think about it logically. Sawamura couldn’t say he would have handled the situation any differently.

“The members from Nekoma should be here tomorrow, make sure none of Karasuno leaves this building.” Sawamura nodded to the younger Ukai. 

“Please get plenty of rest and take care of yourself- I’m sorry, yourselves.” Takeda stumbled but the message was clearly for Sawamura who looked the worse of the two. Sawamura and Kuroo bowed before making their way out of the office and down the hall. Sawamura desperately needed a shower and he was sure Kuroo felt the same. 

“Does Oikawa yell at you often?” Kuroo asked with his signature smirk as the doors of the elevator closed. 

“About once a month for the past year or two.” Sawamura shrugged. Usually Oikawa didn’t do it so publically, and never actually in front of Sugawara, who was usually the reason why Oikawa was yelling in the first place. “He’s usually more eloquent and biting when he does it too.” He had been in anguish, his words sloppy though they managed to hit their mark just as well despite Sawamura’s dismissive tone. 

“Because he’s in love with Sugawara but Sugawara’s in love with you?” Kuroo asked as they stepped off the elevator and began walking down the hall together. Sawamura had had years of practicing giving nothing away, and it was only those years that allowed him to keep from tripping over his own feet and stuttering. Everyone knew Oikawa was in love with Sugawara, but Sugawara in love with Sawamura? 

“We have known each other since high school.” Sawamura said more defensively than he meant to but the more he thought about it, damn Kuroo, the more it became blatantly obvious that the smirking demon was right. Provocation expert, that seemed a dead-on expression. 

“You didn’t know.” Kuroo looked delighted and thoughtful, an odd combination that settled on Kuroo’s face. 

“We have more pressing things to deal with.” Sawamura grumbled as he walked into the locker room, Kuroo behind him. It was still steamy from when his juniors used the showers, and he was glad they were already finished. “You can use Asahi’s spare clothes.” Asahi was broader than Kuroo, but he was the only one who could match Kuroo’s impressive height, except for maybe Tsukishima but he was too thin for any of his clothes to fit Kuroo comfortably. Also Sawamura couldn’t be sure that Tsukishima hadn’t cursed his clothes so that anyone who wore them that were not him will break out in hives. Yamaguchi learned that the hard way, though Tsukishima had thought it was Nishinoya or Tanaka stealing his sweaters.

“You let him yell at you once a month?” Kuroo raised an eyebrow in obvious disbelief. “Because he’s got unrequited feelings so he takes it out on you?” Undoubtedly his team would pay Oikawa back when things settled down but Sawamura never felt the need. Sawamura wasn’t even sure Oikawa’s feelings weren’t returned, despite how Sugawara might or might not feel about Sawamura. They had only talked about it once, but Oikawa was selfish and fickle, that was why Sugawara never took him seriously. 

“Kuroo,” Sawamura started unbuttoning his shirt with a sigh. “I’m too exhausted to verbally spar with you right now and I really don’t want to gossip about other people's love lives in the locker room. Ever, I don’t want to do that ever.” Kuroo laughed and Sawamura noted that it was a good sound, higher pitched than Sawamura thought it’d be but it was genuine and it lightened the mood. 

“So we can gossip in your office? I’ll make popcorn.” Kuroo offered in a sing-song voice and Sawamura snorted as he pushed down his suspenders. 

The shower made Sawamura feel more human, though it also made him want to curl up on the tile floor and sleep. Only the thought of a warm bed stopped him from doing so as he went back to his locker and pulled out the clothes he usually worked out in. He had spare trousers and work shirts, but they weren’t the most comfortable thing to sleep in. Sawamura tried to keep his focus on his clothes, a long sleeve navy blue fitted shirt and a pair of black joggers, but he could feel eyes on his back. 

Sawamura couldn’t blame Kuroo, didn’t blame anyone who managed to catch the leader of Karasuno in some manner of undress. Covered in tattoos and scars, he knew he was a mess. The tattoos were at least beautiful, too numerous and too powerful looking to be pretty but Terushima was an artist. The scars were a different matter entirely. They covered his torso and arms and legs. Some thick and jagged, others long and wide, lightning marks raised or carved out of otherwise tan skin. Sawamura hadn’t looked himself over in several years, knew that there were more scars now than there was before, tried to tell himself it didn’t matter. A scar on his body meant one less on someone else’s. 

“That-” Kuroo was close and Sawamura turned. He had pulled on a pair of Asahi’s shorts, a little baggy but otherwise fine. “Most of your other tattoos I know of but the one on your back?” Sawamura was surprised because he had nearly forgotten there might be another reason for Kuroo to stare other than the scars. 

“It’s my oldest one,” Sawamura didn’t mention that it was only partially a magical tattoo. The real reason why Sawamura started to get the tattoos in the first place, to hide the curse etched into his skin. To take that curse and make something useful out of it. “It’s not really alive in the sense you and I are, but the more power I put into it, the more it changes.” Sawamura hadn’t seen what it looked like in years, wonders what new appearance it had taken on.

“Can I?” There was no apparent smirk, nothing but honest curiosity so Sawamura turned and gave Kuroo his back. 

“Do you think your team will mind working with Karasuno?” Sawamura asked, though he meant would they mind working for him, taking orders from him because they weren’t exactly fond of him and Sawamura knew it. He was also just filling the silence as he felt Kuroo step closer. 

“I’ll talk to them.” Kuroo said in obvious distraction and there was an itch between Sawamura’s shoulder blades that he knew was psychological. Sawamura barely managed to keep from jumping as a feather light touch grazed against curves and angles of an unknown tattoo. He wanted to grumble, pull or push Kuroo away but he was not actually doing anything wrong. His touch was light and not intrusive and Sawamura was more than a little touch starved. He felt guilt and shame settle deep in his stomach, but he’d take what he could get. 

“I don’t want it to cause problems.” Sawamura’s voice was even, which he was thankful for. His team might be made up of troublemakers, but they looked out for each other. If they sensed any animosity coming from the Nekoma members towards Sawamura, there would be tension. 

“Someone is sending the stuff of nightmares to tear apart your team specifically, of course there are going to be problems.” Kuroo said before striding away. Sawamura pulled on his shirt, covering up tattoos and scars alike and felt far more comfortable before he turned towards Kuroo. 

“Kuroo.” Sawamura sighed and Kuroo shot him a smirk after pulling on a white shirt. “The cafeteria is closed so we’ll have to make due with instant ramen.” He decided arguing with Kuroo was not wise even if he wasn’t exhausted and aching. 

“That brings back memories.” Kuroo walked next to Sawamura as they headed out of the locker room. “Bokuto and I survived off that stuff in college.” 

“You went to college?” Sawamura quickly added onto that question, noticing how rude it was only after he had said it. “With Bokuto?” Kuroo smirked, as if noticing Sawamura’s slip but he decided to be amused instead of offended. College just wasn’t something Sawamura thought demons did. 

“I have a degree in engineering.” Kuroo shrugged. “I figured I’d need something to do after I left the Agency, I never really planned on spending the rest of my days here.” Kuroo frowned, shoulders curving inwards slightly as if he was trying to protect himself against the past. 

“And what did Bokuto major in?” Sawamura asked, attempting to bring Kuroo out of his slump. Also to gather more information about the powerful Bokuto Koutarou. 

“What didn’t he major in? Dudes got like five or six degrees, probably more than that now.” Kuroo tried to act like it was normal to have several degrees before you even hit your thirtieth birthday. Sawamura elbowed him in the ribs. “Bo’s crazy smart. I mean I hold myself in high regard for intelligence but Bokuto, if he can sit still long enough to learn something, it’s stuck in there forever.” Kuroo squinted. 

“He offered to help when I brought Hinata to be trained by Kenma that first day.” Sawamura had thought it was just Bokuto being nice, but now he wasn’t too sure. 

“You should call him.” Kuroo’s voice was a little too casual and for the first time Sawamura wondered what it was like coming back from the dead. Kuroo had a life, friends and family who mourned his too-early death and now he was back but he was not telling anyone because why? 

Because of Sawamura. The thought sliced through his mind as they took turns using the microwave in the dark cafeteria. Sawamura had told them, had held the executive decision to take Kuroo out if he showed himself as any sort of threat. Kuroo wasn’t telling anyone he was back because Sawamura still held that sway over him. Sawamura felt flooded with guilt. 

“Director Ukai knows what you are, doesn’t he? The same way your own Director knows.” Sawamura surmised as they sat across from each other after flipping down two chairs at a table. Kuroo stared down his steaming cup of noodles while Sawamura studied him, actually really looked at him for perhaps the first time. Kuroo was maybe a shade or two paler than Sawamura, still a warm tan color that meshed well with his black hair. His hair wasn’t sticking up ridiculously any longer and was falling into eyes the color of warm cocoa. It was a surprise, those eyes looking up at him because Sawamura remembered when they were completely black. 

“I don’t know how much your Ukai knows, but Nekomata knew.” Kuroo drummed his long fingers against the table, brows furrowed before he was leaning forward, pushing his way into Sawamura’s space. Sawamura broke apart his chopsticks and gave Kuroo his blandest look. 

“I still don’t trust you, but that’s moreso because you’re a shifty character not because of the, you know, other thing.” Even if the cafeteria was empty and silent, it was still a public space where anyone could walk by and overhear him call Kuroo a demon. 

“Shifty character?” Kuroo guffawed at him, loud and booming. “How old are you, fifty?” Sawamura gave him an unimpressed look as he started in on his noodles. Tension that Sawamura hadn’t even known Kuroo was holding seemed to disappear as he ate his own noodles, shooting Sawamura a smirk here or there. 

“What?” Sawamura finally asked. 

“I can’t believe all I had to do was tell you the directors knew about me to get you to trust me.” Kuroo didn’t look put off about the information. 

“Once things settle down I’ll look into voiding our contract.” Kuroo positively beamed at him. Not his usual shit eating grin or sarcastic fueled smirk but a big, goofy looking grin that made Kuroo look about 15 instead of nearly 30. “Your Kozume still owes Hinata for using him like he did.” Sawamura said with a grumble, not willing to admit that the twist in his stomach at Kuroo’s smile was not an altogether unpleasant feeling. 

“Okay dad.” Kuroo smirked. 

“I take everything I said back.” 

“No, it’s too late, you trust me.” 

“No one said that.” 

“Your eyes did Daichi.” 

“Stop.” 

“They said, oh Tetsu I care deeply about you and just want what is best-” 

“You are the worst.” 

“You mean the world to me Tetsu, you’ve somehow wiggled your way into my heart-” 

“I hate you.” 

 

\------ 

 

Takeda, the blessedly wonderful man, set up futons in one of the large training rooms. Sawamura allowed himself seven hours of solid sleep before pushing himself up. The rest of his team was already up and out of the training room, which was probably why he was allowed to sleep for seven hours. Tanaka snored like a chainsaw and Hinata wiggled his way towards the warmest body and Yamaguchi had a tendency to yell in Italian while he was asleep. 

Kuroo was in the hall with several members of his team and he gave Sawamura that same beaming smile that he gave last night. Sawamura squinted and frowned, ignoring the pleasant warmth at the look. 

“Not a morning person Daichi?” Kuroo asked. Sawamura ignored the use of his first name. 

“Your hair is ridiculous.” Sawamura replied back, patting down his own bedhead. Kuroo stole his pillow sometime during the night and held both pillows on the side of his head, which was why his hair always stuck up the way it did. Sawamura didn’t know what to do with that sort of information so he pushed it away because Kuroo was laughing at him. “Yamaguchi.” 

“Y-yes sir?” Yamaguchi had been trying to slide past unnoticed but the young man was over 180 centimeters. 

“Go check on Tsukishima,” Sawamura said because it was obvious that was the way Yamaguchi had been heading. “If he’s feeling well enough, I need you two to research everything you can about the west section and the old Karasuno team.” Yamaguchi nodded and took off down the hall. 

“You’re a little terrifying Grumpchi.” Sawamura liked that nickname less than he liked Kuroo calling him by his first name. 

“How can we help?” Yaku asked, shooting Kuroo a slightly confused look, to which the taller man ignored to grin at Sawamura instead. 

“If you could set up some drills to see how our two teams work together?” Sawamura rubbed the back of his neck, trying to pull his brain into working order. Usually he gave himself time in the morning to fully wake up before attempting to talk to people, but he didn’t have that luxury here. “I’ll send my people to you.” Yaku nodded and all but shoved and pushed his team into the training room. 

Sawamura stopped in his office, changing into more appropriate clothing before realizing that Kuroo was already dressed. Nekoma must have brought him clothes, which made the guilt ease a little in Sawamura. Tracking down the rest of his team was easy, most of them were back in the infirmary. 

“Asahi is awake but both him and Noya are in healing baths right now.” Sugawara explained as he happily ate his breakfast. “Asahi will be out faster but Noya will most likely need to stay in there all day, and most of tomorrow.” 

“Where are you going?” Sawamura frowned as he sent the rest of the team to the training room. 

“I won’t do anything but I can at least watch.” Sugawara stood up from the bed while under Sawamura’s close observation, looking for even a twinge of pain. “Stop, Kiyoko gave me something to numb the pain and quicken the healing, I’m fine.” Sawamura frowned and he was glad when Kuroo walked a little ways away, pretending to be looking over the motivational posters plastered on the walls. 

“Suga I’m sorry.” Sawamura didn’t even bother dodging the punch he knew was coming. 

“If you ever put our team at risk for the slim chance to save me I will toss you into the nearest hell dimension.” Sugawara warned with a sweet, sweet smile. He patted Sawamura shoulder before walking past him, exchanging a few cheery words with Kuroo on his way out. 

“He’s even more terrifying than you.” Kuroo said, clearly impressed. Sawamura chuckled despite himself. “Food?” Kuroo asked, looking happy and relaxed in a way Sawamura hadn’t seen him before. He nodded and blamed it on part of his team being nearby now, but Sawamura knew that was only partially the reason. Something happened within the past 24 hours, most likely to due to Sawamura finally accepting him but he thought it probably started around the time they went to the warehouse together with the rest of Karasuno. 

They walked into the cafeteria together and grabbed food before sitting down at an empty table. Sawamura let himself think about how odd it was going to be when Kuroo wasn’t bound to be by his side any longer. He was used to walking the halls of the Agency by himself, eating alone in his office, working alone really. Of course, there was his team who crowded around him, but he was used to going about his day alone. He didn’t let himself ponder on it too long though.

 

Several people came up to him to talk and offer up their assistance in any way possible. Sawamura forced away the last dredges of sleep and smiled warmly, thanking each of them. Kuroo watched all of this, not speaking up until the giants of Dateko walked off to their own table. Moniwa Kaname, the leader of Dateko, was the same height as Sawamura though of a slightly smaller build but he looked tiny when he was surrounded by his giant members, most of whom were his juniors. 

“You know by the things I’ve heard I thought Karasuno was looked at as a cursed child.” Kuroo spoke up, sipping his tea thoughtfully. 

“We are.” Sawamura said honestly before grinning. “Most people find it difficult to dislike us though.” Hinata in particular smiled and hopped his way into other teams, though they all had friends spread out. 

“Sir- Sawamura, err-sorry.” Sawamura looked over to see two people from Aoba Johsai. He couldn’t remember their names, just knew them as Kageyama’s former friends. “I’m sorry.” The one Hinata dubbed pineapple head apologized again, face beet red as his friend, a bored looking young man stepped forward with a sigh. 

“What he means is could you please give this to Tobio?” Sawamura took the thin bracelet from the delicate looking man. His fingers ran over it quickly before he looked over at the two people he thought least likely to give Kageyama a protection charm. 

“Thank you.” Both bowed respectively before walking away. Sawamura double checked the bracelet again for any tricks but it was just a simple protection charm. Protection charms couldn’t really be bought because they only truly worked if the one weaving the charm truly wanted protection for the wearer. 

“You look surprised.” Kuroo commented as Sawamura pushed the bracelet into his pocket. 

“Honestly I thought pineapple head would take that grudge to the grave.” Sawamura said before realizing what he had called the other man when Kuroo started to cackle. “Stop.” 

“Oh, I like half asleep Daichi, he’s great.” Kuroo smirked. Sawamura decided the best course of action was to ignore him until he was more awake. 

“Ah, Sawamura, there you are!” Takeda nearly tripped over the legs of a chair as he came stumbling over to the table Sawamura and Kuroo occupied. 

“Takeda, good morning.” Sawamura went to stand politely but Takeda waved him off. 

“I have something for you, Ukai and I have been searching through records most of the night trying to find anything related to the old Karasuno team.” Takeda put down two thick files next to Sawamura. Sawamura flipped them open and immediately felt more awake. “These are the only ones we could find. A lot of information has been redacted but perhaps they could still be of some use?” 

“Thank you, Takeda. Please thank Ukai also.” Sawamura was staring at the file and personal notes of one of the original members of Karasuno. As Takeda said, most of the information had been redacted, even the name but there was a picture and the nickname “Small Giant”. 

“I’m sorry we can’t be of more help.” Takeda frowned slightly down at the files. The second file seemed to be from Karasuno’s former team leader, his name had also been redacted and there was no picture to accompany the file. “Ukai and I were only children when the- um- incident happened. We will keep searching though.” Sawamura thanked him again before Takeda strode out of the cafeteria, tripping over the same chair on the way out. 

“Why would you redact someones personal information?” Kuroo asked while peering at the open file. 

“It was an old superstition, if someone spoke of the dead too often it brought them forth.” Sawamura shrugged at Kuroo’s disbelieving look. 

“Country bumpkins.” Kuroo grinned before pulling the Small Giant’s file closer to himself. “Looks like his personal files are written in shorthanded code, if only you had someone well versed in codes.” 

“Would you like to try and break the code Kuroo?” Sawamura asked with feigned disinterest as he gathered his trash together. 

“You don’t have to beg Daichi.” Sawamura rolled his eyes as he grabbed Kuroo’s trash and stood up to throw everything away. “Stop grovelling, it’s really unbecoming of a team leader.” Sawamura grabbed the other file, turning his head so he could hide his grin as Kuroo stood and followed him to his office.

Sawamura hoped that there would be something in either file to help solve the mystery of what was happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't you hate it when some unknown entity puts a slimy creature inside your best friend to try and attack your tiny little ball of sunshine? Isn't that the worst?
> 
> Big thanks to **audriel** for proofreading this chapter!!


	7. Sawamura Daichi and the Ancient Creatures

Kuroo had overtaken Sawamura’s office. Well more like he had taken over the floor and Sawamura had a desk full, literally there were papers everywhere, of work to complete but he couldn’t stop staring at the long-limbed demon spread across his office floor. Apparently, a half hour previous Kuroo had broken the code of the former Karasuno’s ‘Small Giant’ with drawn out sighs and disgusted clicking of his tongue he had oozed out of his perched position on one of the spare chairs and started spreading papers over every available inch of space. 

Sawamura had to actively stop himself from watching Kuroo organize, sit back, and then reorganize the couple decade old notes. He forced his eyes back down to his computer, he had finished reading and taking notes on the former Karasuno leaders file over an hour ago and was reading over what Yamaguchi and Tsukishima had dredged up on their own searches. 

“What-” Oikawa’s voice interrupted the relative calm and quiet atmosphere of the small office as he blew in with his usual attitude. 

“Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?” Kuroo punched Oikawa in the leg, pushing him out of the way because he was stepping on and messing up all of Kuroo’s hard work. 

“Sawamura you keep terrible company.” Oikawa slammed down a rather large bento box before shooting a glare at Kuroo, their eyes meeting. Sawamura watched as Kuroo’s black pupil swallowed the iris whole before he looked back down at his crumpled notes. 

“Oikawa?” Sawamura asked, having missed whatever reaction the overdramatic man had towards Kuroo’s weird eye-trick, but Oikawa was already storming out, purposely kicking around Kuroo’s notes before slamming the door. “What was-” 

“Fucking arsehole.” Kuroo grumbled, reaching over to grab the fluttering papers before peering over at the box on Sawamura’s desk. “What’s that smell?” Sawamura took a breath and decided to let whatever had happened between Oikawa and Kuroo go. Oikawa had a habit of rubbing people the wrong way and it wasn’t as if Sawamura had been a hundred percent honest with Kuroo either. 

“Oikawa’s a great cook.” Sawamura answered as he opened the three-tier bento box. 

“It’s so cute.” Kuroo sounded disgruntled and Sawamura laughed. “This is why you let him yell at you isn’t it? He makes you food afterwards! Trickymura.” Sawamura grinned as he placed the box near the edge of his desk, so they could both pick at it. Kuroo eyed it distrustfully before ultimately giving in. It did look cute and it smelled even better. There was plenty for the two of them. 

“So, have you learned anything useful?” Sawamura asked after another hour had passed. He stretched, working the kinks out of his back and neck after having sat hunched over his desk for so long. 

“This guy was intense.” Kuroo sat back from where he had finally organized all of the old notes into two piles. “And paranoid. When did they go missing?” Sawamura rattled off a month and year that Yamaguchi had given to him in his report. Kuroo nodded, fingers tapping against the smaller pile. 

“They functioned well as a team, but they didn’t get along otherwise.” Sawamura spoke up after it became obvious Kuroo was still working through something. “The former leader never specifically said anything bad, but he seemed unsure. The reports I have are from over a year before they went missing.” 

“These are from around the same time.” Kuroo motioned to the larger pile. “But these are from a few weeks, maybe even days before they went missing. It is why it was taking me so long to figure out the code, it was two sets of code. One being just a regular shorthand, but the second was a code. He mixed his new reports into the old ones.” 

“Did he seem like the type of person to do that accidentally?” Sawamura asked because Kageyama had done that a couple times, he was amazingly disorganized. 

“No, he definitely did this purposely.” Kuroo looked over to Sawamura. “Why are these the only files available?” 

“Takeda sent me an email reporting that they hadn’t been able to find any other files from any of the members, he mentioned these had actually been misfiled, they were mixed in with old maps of our section.” Sawamura leaned back, peering down at his hands but not really seeing anything, his mind running wild with the possibilities. “Papers get lost and misplaced all the time. This building has caught fire twice in the past thirty years.” He had to say the logical explanation, had to put it out there. 

“You said what you had was over a year before they went missing? What is it about?” Kuroo asked, standing up and leaning a hip against the edge of Sawamura’s desk.

“Training schedules, the new recruits, routine inspections-” Sawamura flipped through the reports. “The only thing even involving the west section is a death ruled accidental. Some kids were playing in an old warehouse when the floor gave out beneath them, one of the kids landed wrong and his neck was broken on impact. He was young and the son of a well-known mage at the time, powerful in his own right so when he fell he must have gotten scared. He sent out a pulse of power that dredged up some nasty creatures in the area.” Death magic was powerful, especially if it involved someone innocent like a child. 

“What if it wasn’t an accident?” Kuroo asked. “What if the Small Giant attributed that death as the start of all the problems you’ve had with the west section and was investigating it further?” Kuroo bent down to grab the smaller pile and put it on Sawamura’s desk. 

“You think he might have found out something?” Sawamura asked, flipping through the other files but he couldn’t make sense of the code at all. “Why take out an entire field team because of one person?” 

“I don’t know, seems like a lot of work.” Kuroo shrugged. “Just like it would take a lot of additional work to destroy all of the other files. Take a lot of magic and planning to disappear and probably kill a team of 20-odd people. There’s are only 12 of you now and they are still having a hard time of it.” 

“But why? What’s the point?” Sawamura rubbed his face. His team wasn’t even the smallest team either, there were weaker ones that could have been targeted but if someone was purposely going after Karasuno then why not attack them when they were just starting off? Smaller and weaker with less experience than they had now. 

“The Small Giant never says it, but he implies heavily that the west section isn’t just coincidentally a hot spot for horrid creatures and death demons.” Kuroo stared at the papers. “If that original death was not accidental, if that pulse of power was not just the act of a scared child falling from a second story-” Kuroo trailed off, frowning deeply. 

“The purposeful death of an innocent child full of the blood of a powerful mage would be the start of something-” Evil, powerful, unthinkable. Sawamura couldn’t settle on the right word so he let it go, Kuroo got the idea. “It becomes a lodestone for the things of nightmares, more death and accidents happen there and it becomes an even more powerful spot.” Full of death and terror, with dark creatures feeding off it. 

“What if the old members aren’t dead- or were kept alive for a long time.” 20 Agency members would keep something powerful fed for a long while. Perhaps twenty or thirty years even.

“Whether you like the members of your team or not you still form a bond with them. You can’t do our job without forming some sort of attachment to them. You share spells and magic, you tie a metaphysical string from yourself to your teammates.” They were more powerful as a team, Sawamura knew that from personal experiences. 

“The creatures and demons we’ve come across have had ample opportunity to kill several of us.” Sugawara, Asahi, and Nishinoya for all accounts and purposes, shouldn’t be alive as it was. 

“What if they didn’t want you dead?” Kuroo asked, finally meeting Sawamura’s eyes. “What if they just wanted you weakened?” Despite the rest last night and the intake of food, Sawamura was still running on fumes. The rest of his team was in a similar state with the exception of a few. 

“Do you know of anything with the that type of power? To be able to control and feed off of 20 people for decades?” Sawamura asked because he couldn’t think of a single one. Perhaps twenty was its maximum number that it could handle because it had quickly killed and left the remains of another five members. 

“Daichi.” Kuroo stood up straight. “A week ago you didn’t even know demons could be born and live in bodies of their own. Do I know of something that could do what we’re suggesting? No, but do I doubt there’s something out there that could?” They were missing too much information. 

“I’m going to email Ukai and Takeda, even if they don’t know they can still ask around.” Sawamura said as he turned back towards his computer. The Small Giant had been paranoid, maybe he had told other people about his theories but Sawamura doubted it. He wouldn’t make the same mistake, he would tell as many people as he could. 

“I’ll talk to my team.” Kuroo said before kicking the leg of Sawamura’s desk lightly. “Be careful Daichi.” Sawamura looked up in surprise but Kuroo was already striding out of the room after stealing the last sausage octopus out of the bento box. Sawamura fought a smile before letting it go, no one was around to see it anyways, even if he was not really sure why he was smiling in the first place. 

Sawamura looked at his ringing phone, noting it was Terushima’s shop and making a mental note to call him back later. Their appointment wasn’t for a couple more hours and Terushima had a habit of calling Sawamura whenever he had a particularly attractive customer and described, in weirdly specific detail, that person's look. Sawamura was too polite to ever hang up on anyone and Terushima used that to his advantage. 

The screen on the phone went black and Sawamura returned to typing up his report before the default ringing interrupted him again. This time he pushed the power button, silencing the phone and letting it ring to voicemail. Terushima loved leaving long winded voicemails that always ended with the important information so he knew Sawamura would be forced to listen to it all the way through. 

Sawamura frowned at the phone the third time it rang because while Terushima was persistent and could verge on the obnoxious, he knew when he was pushing his limit. Sawamura had days of work to catch up on and he’d be seeing the other man in a couple hours. If he had to cancel their appointment he could leave a voicemail or just text Sawamura. 

The phone rang three times, 3 Missed Calls flashes on the screen before it was ringing for the fourth time. Sawamura grabbed it, annoyed and a little worried as he answered it. 

“S-Sawamura.” A sobbing voice that was distinctly female and not Terushima Yuuji gasped out after Sawamura had issued a greeting. 

“Kuribayashi?” Sawamura guessed because the voice sounded nothing like Misaki Hana. Kuribayashi Runa was an emotional young woman, but her voice was soft and lilting, not the whispery hoarseness that had greeted him. 

“P-p-please Sawa-” Kuribayashi gasped, a pain filled noise that had Sawamura standing up. “You have to come now and you can’t tell anyone or they’ll kill us! Leave your weapons and your phone, they’ll know if you don’t do what they say!” The sentences were rushed out. “Please don’t, please please please stop, I did what you said!” 

“Runa?” Sawamura yelled but the line goes dead, cutting off Kuribayashi’s pleas and cries. Sawamura placed the phone on the desk. It could have been a coincidence that the call happened right when Kuroo had walked out, but Sawamura’s gut was telling him it wasn’t. The Agency building was a fortress, but it wasn’t impenetrable. His office was on the eighth floor and civilians weren’t allowed past the second but mistakes were made. Magic and security guards didn’t always work. 

Sawamura didn’t rely much on weapons except for his two short swords. He left them and his phone in his office as he strode out, his mind grasping at straws. He would go, of course he would. He didn’t know if it was too late to help Kuribayashi, or even if any of the others at the shop were alive but he knew it was an obvious trap. 

They couldn’t take away his greatest weapons, his mind and body and magic. He was exhausted and sore and alone on this but Sawamura had been born an underdog, he had never really had the advantage so this was comfortable for him. Kuroo had told the Director that the demons had been targeting Sawamura, clearly he had gotten in the way one too many times.

Kuroo. 

The name was a punch in the gut because he could tell someone without actually saying or doing anything. 

Sawamura got into the elevator, punching the button for the first floor a little harder than was necessary. He examined the barrier he had put up in his own mind to ward against Kuroo. It was as solid now as it was when he first put it up, he could still feel Kuroo against it, a soft pressure as if the other man wasn’t even aware he was sharing a mental connection with Sawamura. He mentally pushed against a part of the wall until there was a small hole. 

_Kuroo?_ Sawamura sighed as he felt the confusion that was clearly not his own. Apparently Kuroo really hadn’t realized he and Sawamura had more than just the contract binding them together. _I’m sorry about this Kuroo, but I received a call a bit ago and I’m afraid I’m being watched. Someone has taken over Magic Ink and they ordered me to come alone. I’m on my way there now._ Sawamura stuttered to a halt because he wasn’t sure what else to say? 

He would do everything he could to stay alive. 

He was sorry that he was putting this on Kuroo shoulders. 

Please take care of his team. 

_I got you Daichi._ It was soft and quiet, barely cutting through the chaos of Sawamura’s own mind. 

Sawamura stepped out of the elevator, nodding to the people at the front desk as he walked out of the Agency building. He could be very well walking to his death but all Sawamura could feel was a calm sort of anger that burned deeply inside of him. 

His parents had died in a car accident when he was a kid. A dark ice covered road and Sawamura Daichi waiting at a friend’s house for parents who would never make it to pick him up. His grandfather had a heart attack that left him too weak to fight off a cold that turned into pneumonia, he died in a hospital when his grandson was just 17. His grandmother died a year later, most people said she died of a broken heart. They had been his only blood relatives, his only family left. 

Sawamura’s high school best friends, Sugawara and Asahi, were the closest thing to family he had. Now they were both hurt by the same person or creature that had Terushima. Terushima who also had no living relatives, who had carved out a family from friends and employees. This person or thing had attacked Karasuno over and over and when they proved too strong to fall to it, they attacked Sawamura’s loved ones on the outside. 

So Sawamura was angry, angrier than he had felt in a long, long time. Perhaps ever. He was never a particularly violent person, but it was safe to say he wanted to wipe this person or thing out of existence. 

Sawamura took a deep breath and let it out as he quieted his chaotic, and slightly murderous, thoughts. He pulled open the door to Magic Ink, the bell above it ringing deceptively cheerfully as the door swung shut behind him. There were two bodies, one on top of the other, in the small little waiting room off to the side. The wall was sprayed with blood, the bodies were female and Sawamura felt a rush of guilt and shame after the relief that Terushima wasn’t one of those bodies. 

“Kuribayashi.” Sawamura said to the young girl behind the reception desk. Her bottom lip was split and there was blood splattered across her white top covered in little pandas but otherwise she looked okay. Her eyes were wide, bloodshot and full of tears. Sawamura didn’t understand at first why she was sitting so rigidly until a drop of blood slid down her neck. 

The creature behind Kuribayashi was made of shadows, a long claw tipped hand wrapped around the dirty blonde's throat. A whimper escaped her, a small wounded sound she tried to cut off as the razor sharp claws cut into the soft delicate skin. 

“Stop.” Sawamura felt that slow burning anger seeping into every inch of his body. Kuribayashi Runa reminds Sawamura of Yachi. They were both young, barely past their teenage years and prone to nervous fluttering. Kuribayashi cut her hair herself to look like Misaki’s, but had butchered the job a little. She had come into work with a hat on and tears in her eyes before Terushima had made her take it off and show everyone. He had exclaimed, loudly and without any mockery, that he liked how she cut her bangs, how nicely it framed her face and complimented her until she was laughing and smiling. Kuribayashi was young and nervous but she was bright and brave and now some creature had his claws on her neck. 

Sawamura felt posed and ready, burning with anger that had consumed every spare inch of his body and soul. 

“L-lock the door.” Kuribayashi’s voice sounded hoarse. A single tear slid down her cheek. Sawamura locked the door behind him but didn’t bother to activate the wards or spells on it. It was difficult and usually pricey to ward buildings, they tended not to work properly and to put a barrier on something that large usually left large holes. Most people didn’t consider it worth it, but Sawamura had spent months working with Terushima to ward the building.

“It’ll be okay.” Sawamura said softly as he was directed to go down the hall. He didn’t want to leave Kuribayashi with that creature, but as of right then, he didn’t have any choice. He walked into the first room on his left, stepping into the room and seeing Terushima tied up with an unconscious man and Misaki felt like a punch to Sawamura’s stomach.   
Terushima was pressing forward, against his bonds, a scream muffled by the gag over his mouth. One eye was wide, filled with horror but the other one was swollen shut. Misaki slumped forward, sobbing quietly and Sawamura couldn’t understand. 

Until he looked down and realized the feeling of being punched in his stomach wasn’t just in his head. A sharp blade was sticking out of his stomach and Sawamura was mostly confused until he followed the glint of the blade up to a black handle, held by a gloved hand. 

“Sawamura Daichi, I am pleased to meet you face to face finally, finally, finally.” It seemed like such an oddly polite thing to say to someone with a sword in their gut. There was no trace of mockery in its tone, though the voice was oddly distinctive. Broken and light, airy in a way that was clearly not feminine or masculine. It sounded as if was painful to speak. 

The blade slid out of his stomach. It was more painful coming out then going in and Sawamura was on his knees before even registering that his legs refused to hold up his weight any longer. Red seeped out, soaking his white shirt and Sawamura felt like he should have taken Oikawa’s fashion advice and picked darker undershirts. This one was ruined.   
Something crawled to Sawamura’s right, sliding into darkness and shadows before Sawamura could make out what it was. The one that stabbed him took two steps to the left, jerky stilted movements that made Sawamura’s skin crawl. The person or thing because nothing human moved that way, was covered from head to toe in black. Sawamura couldn’t make out any identifying marks, wasn’t even sure how tall or built the thing was. 

His mind felt hazy. 

“You give us much, much, much trouble.” The thing hissed out, shoulder jerking, torso slumping over before rolling forward. Something cracked, like a dried twig. Sawamura pressed his hands to his stomach, pain blossoming but clearing his head just slightly. 

“Why?” Sawamura gasped out, fingers and palms quickly being covered in his own blood.

“Why why why, childish questions.” Something crawled out of the shadows to Sawamura’s right, vaguely humanoid in shape except that it was hunched over on all fours, looking like nothing except leathery skin draped over too-long bones. “You see what you will be? Do you like it? We will cut the hearts out of you and eat them and you can be with us forever.” The thing in black was suddenly crowding Sawamura, crouched and smelling putrid. 

Sawamura gagged, leaning off to the side and pressing his bloodied hands to the floor. 

“We don’t want them.” The thing was pressing closer to Sawamura, the smell nearly overwhelming, ignoring the barrier Sawamura had put around his tied-up friends. “We want you.” Something ran up the side of his face, dry and leathery and Sawamura realized belatedly it was a tongue. 

A corpse. A dried-out corpse, that was what the thing was. That was why it moved so jerkily and why it sounded as it wasn’t meant to speak. Because corpses weren’t mean to speak. The thing moved like an animated corpse, something being used by a very new necromancer but necromancers, even the most well-known and powerful couldn’t speak through a corpse. 

“You don’t have a word for us.” The thing whispered and Sawamura realized it was breathing, breath as foul as the rest of it. Corpses didn’t breathe. “Older than your little world, summoned by mistake, we have waited, waited, waited but we are done waiting.” The thing reached out a gloved hand, the creature slipping completely out of shadows to crawl forward. 

Human. Withered and broken but human. 

“Look, look, look.” The thing pressed a knee into Sawamura’s stomach wound, making him gasp out in pain. The creature opened its mouth, copying Sawamura’s actions. “We don’t cut and consume like those butchers, you stay right there, you are with us, we are together.” Sawamura’s eyes widened in horror as the words penetrated his mind. He stared at the creature, once human but now only vaguely reminiscent of it. Its eyes were sunken but filled with pain and terror, a living nightmare. 

Terushima screamed and the creature copied him, throwing itself forward to slam on the barrier again and again. It was a blood barrier and would only be strengthened the more Sawamura bled out. 

“You fight, fight, fight.” The thing in black slammed a fist three times against Sawamura’s chest. He wheezed and coughed. “Inside, all the time, fighting and screaming. Used them all up. We control the others.” The thing pulled something slimey from inside his cape. “Ready?” Sawamura tried to move, tried to pull on his magic, tried to do anything- something, but his body was unresponsive. “We break your first then we move in with you, we take over, together forever.” It moved the creature over Sawamura’s face, it squirmed in the tight grip before the gloved hand was squeezing. 

Something dripped on Sawamura’s face and felt like acid. Sizzling and burning as Sawamura screamed and buckled in uncontrollable pain. More dripped, seeping into his eyes and nose and mouth, covering his face and neck. 

Sawamura screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things crawling is my nightmare


	8. Sawamura Daichi and the Nightmare World

_Daichi, Daichi please, it’s me- it’s- we’re all here, please Daichi. It’s okay! You have to stop fighting, please, it’s me, it’s-_ The thoughts were a jumble amongst his own, a fading light in the maelstrom of his chaotic emotions. Sawamura did not understand because he was surrounded by demons and nightmare creatures, the walls were dripping blood and his own skin- he was covered in-he couldn’t breathe. 

_Daichi listen, listen to me. Concentrate on me. Daichi! You’re hallucinating, you- you’re surrounded by your team. I know it’s hard but please, please drop the barrier._ A creature pushed close, tall and hunched over, too many joints and several rows of serrated teeth waiting just beyond his wards. _It’s me, you can feel me- close your eyes, that’s right._ Sawamura closed his burning, itching eyes and put all his focus onto the sound of Kuroo’s echoing voice inside his own mind. 

Sawamura couldn’t exactly see through Kuroo’s eyes, but it was something akin to that. He suddenly knew several of Karasuno were there, along with Nekoma and Aoba Johsai. A small warm feeling off to the side of him- no, not him, of Kuroo, that Sawamura recognized as the man with the two-toned hair, Kozume. 

Safe. He tried to hold onto that word, to that feeling despite what all his other senses were telling him. He could feel the acidic air pressing against him, could hear the whining sharp tones of dark creatures speaking another language, could smell sulfur. 

_Keep your eyes closed and drop the barrier, please Daichi._ It took all his effort to drop the barrier, and the one around Terushima. _Terushima and the others are fine, I’m going to come closer okay? I don’t know what you’re seeing- oh, fuck-shit, that’s- just keep your eyes closed then, I’m here. I’m going to touch your shoulder, okay?_ Sawamura could feel the push of something large pressing into his space and his breathing sped up, coming out choppy and he wanted to push it away. 

Fingers that felt like icicles lightly grasped his shoulder. Sawamura bit into his bottom lip until he tasted blood and for a moment his senses cleared, he could hear quiet commands and Kuroo’s soft voice, not inside his own mind but right in front of him. Then everything faded back to a nightmare. 

_We’ve got you safe Daichi._ The press of icy fingers against his shoulder. He wanted to push them away but he made himself still, made himself believe it was Kuroo despite all his senses telling him it wasn’t.

Fighting against his senses was difficult, fighting his instincts was near impossible. His senses were relaying information to his body and brain, his instincts were telling him he was surrounded by the enemy. His magic hums underneath his skin, ready and steady. His body was tensed, wanting to fight or run or do something besides meekly submit to everything done to him. Despite everything though nothing bad happened to him. He waited for a hit or bite, the burn of magic against his exposed body but nothing. The hands that touched him every few moments felt tipped like claws and he held his breath everytime they brushed against him but nothing ever happened. 

They got him into an ambulance. Sawamura made the mistake of opening his eyes for a brief moment when he heard a loud, sharp cry and the world around him made him turn to the side and heave up everything in his stomach. It hurt, it burned because his stomach was clenching and there was a hole through his gut and out his back. 

_Tell me how you met Suga._ The voice pulled him from the brink of a panic attack as he thought about Sugawara. Warm, brilliant, always teasing Sugawara Koushi. They had met in high school, Sugawara and Asahi had actually been friends for the first couple weeks. Asahi towered over everyone but he was skinny, almost as skinny as Sugawara, who also had the disadvantage of being small. He wouldn’t grow until the end of their first year. Sawamura had other friends, people like him. He had been one of those lucky sorts that never really went through an awkward stage, he had been shorter and weighed less in his first year than in his third but he was open and friendly and dependable. Sugawara and Sawamura, names so close that they sat by each other in their shared classes. Sawamura wasn’t sure when exactly Sugawara had become his friend, just that one day during lunch he had followed Sugawara out of their class and into another one, over to a tall thin boy with shaggy hair who knocked over two desks when he stood up as they walked into the class. After that they had always eaten lunch together. Sugawara was easier to talk to than anyone Sawamura had known and their friendship had come easily, simply. 

Sawamura wasn’t sure how much of that Kuroo got but it had helped him calm down. 

_You became friends with Azumane at the same time?_ It was the country and there weren’t many people with supernatural linage at their school, or if there was they managed to hide it. Asahi with his great height, and later on with his added muscles he tried to hide under thick sweaters and big jackets, was an obvious giant. People had been terrified of him, until they realized what a bumbling, apologetic giant ball of nerves he was. Mostly after that clubs asked him to move heavy equipment, teachers asked him to carry large stacks of books or papers, small things like that that Asahi was more than happy to help with. Except for a small group of their upperclassmen who decided that Asahi made good target. They could pick on a giant, bolster their own reputations by beating up on him because they knew he wouldn’t fight back. Sawamura wasn’t a violent person, but his grandparents had put him in martial arts classes practically since he came to live with them, and it had almost been laughable at how easily the four boys had gone down. Sawamura had gotten in trouble, his grandmother had cried and he had felt terrible. 

Kuroo explained everything they were doing, how there was something with the wound in his stomach and they had to see to that before they could try and figure out what else had been done to him. Sawamura explained the slug-like creature that had been squeezed over his face, acid slime covering the area. He felt the press of bodies and only years of training kept him quiet and still because everything felt like claws against exposed skin, willowing shrieks in his ears, rotten eggs gagging his nose. 

_Please don’t let them see me like this._ Sawamura bit back on a cry, his body arching, spine feeling like it was going to snap at any moment. There were growls and yells, things he knew were apart of his hallucinations, that they were other agency members surrounding him and speaking and not the monster his senses wanted him to believe. 

_Okay everyone’s gone, it’s just me and the medics now._ Kuroo promised and Sawamura let out a wheezing breath that felt like it went on forever, until he was coughing and choking and sobbing. _Kiyoko is working on an antidote, she knows how to counteract what was done to you but Watari he’s going to put you to sleep okay? Don’t fight it Daichi, that’s right, you’re safe. I’ve got you, I’ve got you._

Sawamura felt a pinch on his neck and then he knew no more. 

 

\------- 

 

Sawamura woke with a heavy feeling in his limbs and a dry mouth. It was unpleasant and he knew it was from the drugs, Watari probably not wanting to add any more magic to the mix already swirling around and in Sawamura’s body. Even though easing pain and helping a person sleep with magic was much gentler with none of the adverse side effects of whatever hard drug they’d given him to knock him out. 

Sawamura was about to let himself drift back out, let the drugs run their course through his system, but he heard the soft tones of voices. There was something warm, damp, and soft over his face but the voices were clearly speaking his language and not the nightmare shrieks and wheezes he had been hallucinating before so he decided to leave the the cloth. 

“-want to go back, that’s fine Kenma, I understand.” It was Kuroo’s voice, clear and a little raspy, as if he had just woken up. 

“I’m not going back without you.” Kozume’s voice was soft, almost too soft to hear but he was close by. “You should come back.” 

“They need help here.” Was Kuroo’s quick response. “Kenma-” 

“These creatures have specifically targeted him.” Kozume cut him off, voice still in that soft lilt but there was steel in it now. “I want to help too but if he dies, you die. I’ve been doing research and I believe I can at least transfer the contract onto someone else. You said yourself that after this was all over he would look into dissolving the bond.” It was the most Sawamura had heard Kozume speak, the hardest his voice had gotten. 

“No.” Sawamura nearly missed Kuroo’s answer. “What an interesting face Kenma.” Kuroo tried to joke but all he got was a huff of aggravation. “Trust me.” 

“I do, but it’s not you who’s walking blindly into traps.” Kozume answered quickly. 

“Daichi will do whatever he has to do to protect those around him.” Kuroo said after a long pause, stark conviction in his tone. 

“And he’ll get himself killed in the process, which would be fine except he’ll take you down with him.” Kozume grunted. “I can’t lose you again.” 

“I wasn’t going to make it.” Kuroo’s voice was quiet. “When you summoned me, I wasn’t- it wasn’t enough. Shrimpy’s magic and your circles, it wasn’t until Daichi bound us together, it gave me something solid to hold onto so I could carve out my space in that golem. It- it was terrifying, I didn’t ever want to tell you but I was- I was dying in there.” 

“Do you think you’ll lose that hold if the contract is broken?” Kozume asked, voice revealing nothing. 

“I don’t know, I haven’t- I’m still adjusting to this body.” Kuroo sighed, loud and long and broken. “I didn’t trust Daichi at first either, but there’s a lot more to him Kenma. He’s the suit we thought he was, stand-up and stoic and stalwart but from what I’ve been hearing he doesn’t listen well to the rules. He loves his team, treats them like family and yeah, he’ll sacrifice himself in a second to save any one of them. His body was covered in scars Kenma, deep and shallow, long and short, burns and scrapes and- he doesn’t care about them at all. Doesn’t care because one more scar on his body means that he saved someone else from getting injured.” 

“And you? What’s he think of you now?” Kozume asked warily. 

“He doesn’t trust me fully yet, but he trusts me a lot more than even he’s willing to admit. He’s not really self-aware, thinks because he hides his emotions that means people can’t see how he’s feeling through his actions and words.” Long, slightly calloused and dried fingers touched his wrist. “He doesn’t want to care about me, or our team because it means more people to protect, to worry about. He’s not used to letting someone share his burden.” 

Sawamura’s body and mind felt heavier, it was harder to distinguish the words. He felt warm. 

“Tetsu you dumbass.” Sawamura wanted to laugh at that deadpanned voice but he was already fading out, slipping under the drugs. 

 

\------ 

 

The damp cloth was laid across his eyes the next time Sawamura woke up. He knew it wouldn’t last, already felt himself falling back under the darkness of the drugs pumping through his system. It was why he didn’t drink, he was a lightweight. That and the last time he had gotten drunk was with Terushima and they had decided setting up a magical obstacle course was the best idea they’ve ever had, and then they promptly passed out in the middle of it. The next day, hungover and aching, they had set off traps and barriers and Sawamura promised himself never again. 

Terushima was pressed up alongside him on the cot. Sawamura knew that warm weight anywhere because truthfully, he was the only person that had ever slept with Sawamura. Briefly after Sawamura had been put in charge of Karasuno, and Terushima had moved to Section Five of Tokyo, the blonde had moved in with Sawamura. More often than not Terushima ended up wiggling his way into Sawamura’s bed, and Sawamura had let him. Half because it was nice, having a warm body beside his, and half because Terushima had just lost his father. World renowned but a horribly mean drunk, the loss had still hit Terushima hard. 

Sawamura tried to give Terushima a hug, but his limbs still felt too heavy to move properly so all he managed was to wiggle his arm a little. 

“Daichi?” Terushima breathed out against the side of his face, voice low and raspy. He pressed his face against Sawamura’s neck. Sawamura couldn’t see his tears but he could hear them in his voice, could feel the damp spot on his neck. 

“Alright?” Sawamura rasped out. 

“Yeah, yeah we’re fine. You- you kept us safe Daichi, me and Hana and Kazuma.” Bobata Kazuma, an old friend of Terushima who had been travelling around Asia. Bobata and Hana had just barely started dating, were only two weeks into a brand-new relationship. 

“Runa?” Sawamura asked because he had too. The press of Terushima against him answered that question and he felt something hard settle in his stomach. “I’m sorry.” 

“Not your fault Daichi, not your fault at all.” Terushima took a deep breath. “I want to help you.” But he couldn’t because his arse of a father left Terushima terrified of physical fights. He could verbally spar with the best, but he absolutely froze when force was used. 

“You’re going somewhere safe.” Sawamura said, sure of himself even though his brain felt foggy. 

“The Sanctuary in Hawaii.” Terushima spoke softly. The Sanctuary was full of good magic, the spirits there wild and free and protective. Some bit of tension fled out of Sawamura, making it harder for him to stay awake. 

“Someone will see you off?” Sawamura asked, knowing Terushima would force Hana and Bobata to come with him. He wanted to apologize about Kuribayashi, maybe have Hana yell at him for a bit though he knew she wouldn’t do that. 

“Yes yes, we’ve got an escort.” Soft fingers through Sawamura’s hair, a soft sigh against his temple. “You could come with us?” No hope in Terushima’s voice existed. Sawamura smiled as he felt a kiss to his cheek, chaste and soft. 

“Take care.” Sawamura’s voice was muddied, slow even to his own hearing. 

“That’s my line Daichi.” Terushima pressed another kiss to his temple, a soft splash of his magic against his frayed nerves. Sawamura hummed in appreciation as he was pulled under a veil of darkness once more. 

 

\-------- 

 

Sawamura woke up again, this time to the dulcet tones of one Azumane Asahi, laughing softly and Sawamura had to assume Sugawara was there. Asahi didn’t relax like that around anyone besides himself and Sugawara. Perhaps he was the same way with Nishinoya when they were alone, but Sawamura wasn’t sure about that.

There was nothing damp on his face, though even with them closed his eyes felt sore, as if he had pulled several all nighters. There was a twinge in his stomach when he carefully clenched the muscles there, but he decided that was a rather good sign after having been run through with a sword. 

A sword. Sawamura had been stabbed with a sword and then had some sort of slime-mucus squeezed out over his face. As far as Thursdays went, not his best if he did say so. Not the worst day he’d ever had but definitely in the top five. His senses seemed to be performing admirably, but he was still a little afraid to open his eyes in case he was still in that nightmare world. It’d probably be awhile until he didn’t see those horrible images every time he closed his eyes. 

“Wait wait wait, you two aren’t together?” Kuroo’s voice rang out, cutting off Asahi. Sawamura found that surprising, though now that he wasn’t putting his full concentration onto himself he could feel the warmth of a body next to him. It must be Kuroo’s hand resting next to his on the cot, little finger brushing up against the side of Sawamura’s hand every once and awhile. 

“No, of course not.” Asahi answered quickly and Sawamura knew they were talking about Nishinoya. 

“Sorry, you two just- um- cuddle more than normal friends do.” There was amusement in Kuroo’s tone. “Why aren’t you together?” Despite all the years of knowing Asahi, Sawamura hadn’t ever asked him that question personally. Asahi might be glass hearted but he was still a giant, on the small side for his people but he towered over most people. Giants were made tougher too, skin harder to pierce, bones a bit denser. Nishinoya was anything but weak, but he was still the smallest bloke in Karasuno, in most teams really. Sawamura had always assumed it was because of this key difference that Asahi never pursued anything, despite the very obvious fact that they cared deeply for each other. 

“It’s against company policy.” Asahi said, sounding sad but resigned. Sawamura’s eyes opened in surprise at that, staring up at a dimly lit ceiling. Sugawara was seated to his left, surprisingly quiet during the whole exchange. His body language screamed closed off and his shoulders were tight with tension. Kuroo was pulled up in a chair right next to Sawamura’s right, facing away from Sawamura to Asahi who was sitting on the next cot over. 

“Against company policy?” Kuroo asked before anyone but Sugawara could see that Sawamura was awake. 

“Yuu- I mean Noya, he is my junior, I helped t-train him.” Asahi stumbled over his words, looking down at where he was twisting his long fingers together. “The Agency has rules against fraternization, especially with those-”

“Ukai.” Sawamura interrupted, pulling attention to himself. Everyone looked shocked, except Sugawara who looked even more closed off than before. Sawamura was worried about that but he needed to handle this situation first, before Asahi let it get out of even more control. Five bloody years. “-is married to Takeda, who started off as his assistant.” Sawamura stared down Asahi, whose eyes were wide in shock and confusion. 

Sawamura guessed it hadn’t been public news, Ukai junior and Takeda that was. He assumed most people knew they had gotten together while Takeda was still Ukai’s assistant. It had been nearly ten years, so it wasn’t surprising that the information had gotten lost somehow. Takeda started off in the agency as Ukai’s assistant, both of them new and Takeda had needed a way to pay for his schooling. He was a brilliant professor for the Agency now, some of his classes went way above Sawamura’s head, but he still kept the pretense up of being Ukai’s assistant, but that was mostly to spend time with his busy husband. Also Ukai couldn’t really get on without Takeda. 

“Oh.” Asahi paled and then turned a brilliant shade of red. If Sawamura wasn’t so annoyed he would have laughed. “I thought- I didn’t- Takeda has several doctorates degrees, I thought he just took on Ukai’s assistant role to spend time with him.” 

“You’re not wrong.” Sawamura grudgingly admitted. He was mostly angry at himself because if he had just asked Asahi plainly instead of assuming he knew the large man then they could have cleared this up years ago. Kuroo’s fingers lightly grazed Sawamura’s hand. 

“Sawamura.” Sawamura looked over at Sugawara in surprise. The ash haired man hadn’t called him by his family name in a decade. 

“I’ll- um- go get you something to eat, yeah? Maybe a change of clothes.” Kuroo stood up, fingers squeezing Sawamura’s quick before he was using long legs to stride quickly out of the infirmary. 

Silence descended upon the three old friends. Sawamura was half surprised when Asahi leant forward, all previous nerves gone as he suddenly turned intense. Mostly he saved the hard looks for when they were fighting something else, it was never directed at him. Being lectured by Sugawara and Asahi was somehow even worse than when he was lectured by his grandparents, though that didn’t really happen all that often. 

“Couldn’t wait until I’m more settled?” Sawamura asked, trying for a light air and wincing after the words had escaped his mouth. He knew from past experience that trying to make light about these situations never turned out well. The flattened line of Sugawara’s mouth told him he’d made a mistake he was going to pay for. 

“We would but you might have gotten yourself killed by then.” Sugawara said in a tone oozing with disdain. People didn’t know that Sugawara could get that way because he purposely portrayed himself as sweet and kind and a little mischievous. He was all those things of course, but he was also wickedly sharp and observant. He knew how to cut people, the same way Oikawa and Tsukishima did, but he rarely used his observations in that way. 

“I won’t apologize for going to help Terushima and the others.” Sawamura was reminded suddenly of Kozume, stuck inside one of his barriers and refusing to apologize for using Sawamura and Hinata to bring back Kuroo. Sawamura was a little annoyed with himself as the last of resentment towards Kozume fell away. He had never been too good at holding grudges anyways. 

“It’s ridiculous that you think that’s what we’re angry about.” Sugawara looked away, took a deep breath that was quick and a little gaspy. 

“Daichi-” Asahi leaned forward, not flinching when Sawamura turned his glower towards him. Usually a look from Sawamura made Asahi wilt, but the larger man straightened his shoulders and stared down his old friend. “You went into a situation you knew was dangerous, you had to know that your chances of survival were slim, if at all, but you went anyways without telling us.” 

“I was told they would kill everyone there if I told anyone, I couldn’t be sure I wasn’t being watched or bugged in some way.” The Agency had spells and barriers to ward off magical surveillance but you couldn’t be protected completely, it wasn’t possible. Sawamura hadn’t been willing to take that chance that they were bluffing. He also didn’t bring up the fact that he had told Kuroo because that was beyond the point. Kuroo was an anomaly, the mental connection they had a surprise and not something that was supposed to happen. If Kuroo hadn’t been there, Sawamura would have still walked into Magic Ink by himself. His entire plan rested on slamming down a blood or soul barrier around whoever was left at Magic Ink. Even those strong in defensive magic tended to stay away from blood and soul barriers. Blood barriers used the casters’ blood, the more blood used, the stronger the barrier. Sawamura had been bleeding profusely, the choice had been made easy for him. Soul barriers were attached to the caster, possibly the strongest of any defensive magic but if the barrier was broken or damaged then it would directly hurt a person's soul. 

“You went to die and you left us behind.” Sugawara’s voice was soft, he nearly missed the catch in it. Sawamura didn’t bother to mention that even if Sugawara and Asahi had come, if they had brought the entire Karasuno team it wouldn’t have mattered much. The creatures inside the old Karasuno team were ancient and they could somehow control other creatures and demons with ease. 

“We’re a team but you have always acted like you’re alone.” Asahi added in his own soft tone, not even bothering to hide his own tears. Sawamura couldn’t apologize because they knew it would be an empty one, if he had to re-do everything over, he’d make the same choices. His friends’ life over his, that was always easy for him.

Sawamura thought of ugly, poisonous looking boils covering half of Asahi’s face, neck, and torso. He thought of Sugawara’s pale, pale body with blue-tinged lips and the skin and muscle ripping on his back. It was not the first time either of them had been hurt, Asahi was basically a tank and on the front line in most situations, but it had been the first time Sawamura couldn’t protect them. He couldn’t be at their backs, warding off wayward spells and curses, making sure claws and teeth never found purchase. 

It was selfish, he knew it was. Unselfish in a wholly selfish way and neither Sugawara nor Asahi would look too kindly on his thoughts, on his constant need to protect them. They were grown adults, no one forced them to join the Agency. Sugawara was intelligent enough to land any sort of job in the Agency that wasn’t fieldwork, most of the higher ups wanted med mages to stay in a safe place anyways. Asahi was huge and strong, but he was also gentle and kind. Sawamura still wasn’t quite sure what made Asahi stick around the Agency. 

Sawamura couldn’t apologize, couldn’t say he would do anything differently because he wouldn’t. Their enemy was an unknown entity and if Sawamura had to give up his life to stop them then he gladly would. He didn’t want to die before he was even 30, but he was willing and able to do so if it meant protecting those he cared about. 

Sugawara and Asahi would never accept that. 

“Sorry.” Kuroo poked his head into the dimly lit infirmary, hands holding up a tray filled with various food and drinks. “Someone really needs to talk to you.” Hinata squeezed past Kuroo and he was in front of Sawamura quickly. Sawamura sat up, wincing and nearly groaning in relief when Sugawara moved forward to help him. 

“Hinata is there anyway this could wait?” Sugawara asked but Hinata was already shaking his head. There was a piece of paper clutched in his hand, his face was devoid of any color except his wide bright eyes. 

“What is it?” Sawamura asked worriedly. Hinata thrust the paper at him, cringed then handed it to him with care. Sawamura took the paper, looking at the printed picture taking up half of the white sheet. The picture was old, black and a white and more than a little fuzzy. It was still clearly a team picture. Sawamura had one of Karasuno hung in his office. “Is this the team that disappeared?” Sawamura asked in surprise. In the front, nearly all the way to the left sat the ‘Small Giant’. Even blurry Sawamura could make out the intense flat look on the man’s face. 

“Yamaguchi and Tsukishima uncovered some things while you were recovering.” Asahi said, leaning over Hinata to look at the group photo.

“It’s him.” Hinata’s voice was a wobbly croak, nervous and scared and some other emotions that Sawamura couldn’t quite pick up on. 

“Him?” Sawamura asked, frowning at the photo. Hinata pointed to the Small Giant, finger trembling so badly it was nearly difficult to pinpoint who he was pointing at. “Do you know him Hinata?” It was impossible, they had disappeared before Hinata was even born. 

“He’s the one, he’s the one-” Hinata looked like he was forcibly stopping himself from repeating it a third time. 

Three. Sawamura had heard that repetitive nature before. In Magic Ink, the creature all dressed in black that Sawamura had assumed was one of the missing Karasuno members taken over by an ancient creature summoned from an innocent childs death. But he had heard that redundant way of speaking before, years ago in a report. 

Hinata Shouyou’s report. As the team leader Sawamura was privy to all background checks to every team member. Hinata had a typical childhood, until he was 10 and he watched his mother and younger sister be brutally murdered. Little Hinata Shouyou had described the creature who killed his family as ‘the skeleton man’, drew pictures of an emaciated corpse with black rags. It had broken Hinata’s legs, killed his family and then told Hinata- told him. 

“You’re not ready yet.” 

His mother's side of the family wanted nothing to do with him, they thought his sprite father had been the one to kill his mother and sister. He had been turned over to the government and with most orphans he had been sent to be trained by the Agency. It wasn’t required to work for the Agency once you turned 18, but it was the only skill they had. The only thing they knew how to do. 

Sawamura didn’t bother to ask Hinata if he was sure, it would have been insulting to him because he was oblivious and naive but the way his family had been killed had taken hours. 

“We break you first,” The words rang out like a warning bell in Sawamura’s head. Hinata hadn’t broken though and neither had Sawamura, but it seemed like only the beginning.   
The creature who had talked to him had been hidden underneath layers of clothes, but Sawamura had clearly seen several others. Corpse creatures, almost unrecognizably humanoid. He imagined, to a 10- year-old, skeleton creatures were a fine way of describing them. 

“We’ll figure this out Hinata, I promise.” Sawamura gripped Hinata’s shoulder, felt them ease a little and was a bit overwhelmed by how much trust Hinata Shouyou had in him, despite all the recent mistakes he made. Sawamura turned to Sugawara, didn’t even have to bother with a pleading look before Sugawara was moving forward, pulling Hinata towards him with a warm arm around his shoulders. 

Sugawara and Asahi were still mad at them, they really had resolved nothing but they were old teammates and older friends. None of them would let a little anger get in the way of doing their job, protecting their juniors, and working together to get everyone safe. 

“I’ll call together the team leaders and director? Meet up in 45 minutes?” Asahi offered and with a nod from Sawamura he was walking off. 

“Intense.” Kuroo said cheerfully before placing the tray of food next to Sawamura. “Judging from the confused looks of Suga and Azumane, I wasn’t the only one who had no idea what was going on.” Sawamura grabbed a bottle of water, drinking half of it first before explaining. 

It was not as if he was purposely keeping information from people, but it was Hinata’s past. Sawamura had to know about it to be an effective leader. He knew that half the reason Kageyama was surly and craved approval all the time was because his former teammates had abandoned him. He second guessed himself, tried to reign in a lot of his emotions to stop from repeating the past but Kageyama wasn’t good at burying his feelings. They tended to build and blow up at the worst of times. Because Sawamura knew about his past he could deal more effectively with Kageyama, let him have different outlets to vent his frustrations. 

Hinata hardly let his past define who he had made of himself. He was rambunctious and bubbly and quick to act and never let himself stay down for long. Sawamura was half in awe of him, but sometimes Hinata got strangely intense. A nearly dead-eyed look took over his features, head tilted slightly to the side. It frightened people to see it, this unexplainable 180 of his personality but Sawamura knew why it happened. 

“Fuck.” Kuroo said with feeling as Sawamura put down his now empty bowl of soup before starting in on his rice. “His magical peak would be around this time.” Kids were full of magic but it wasn’t anything useful, most couldn’t use it in any way, it was just there, underneath the surface. As with most things, puberty drudged up that magic, made it usable and brought it to the surface. It still wasn’t until years later, in most people's early 20’s that you hit your magical peak. You could still get stronger, learn more and hone your skill, but mostly a person couldn’t gain more power.

“They wanted him here.” Sawamura wondered who else had been drawn into this plan, how long had they been playing with their lives. “There’s something else.” 

Sawamura took a deep breath, preparing himself. In equal parts not many people know about this story, this essential part that made up Sawamura Daichi but then again too many people knew. Most in his section, all those around his age and his superiors. Too many, not enough- god his head hurt. 

Six years prior Sawamura had been working his way steadily through the ranks. He was a solid person, a solid agent. He listened well and retained information and did his job. He was good at calming people down and making them hear what he was saying. He was nowhere near the best, not like Bokuto Koutarou or Ushijima Wakatoshi, but he was in a good position. 

His first official case where he was put in a leadership position, was the death of Terushima Ryouta, Terushima Yuuji’s father. A brilliant inkcaster but a lousy human being. It was how Sawamura had meet Yuuji, he had been sent to interview him and had been surprised at the dismissive answers that were provided. Sawamura had been thrown off. His own parents had been strict, his grandparents even moreso but he never said a bad word against any of them. He couldn’t imagine anyone saying anything bad about their parent. 

Terushima Ryouta didn’t deserve the title of father though. He was mean and cruel and drank far too much. The more people Sawamura interviewed, the more this became blatantly clear. He had gotten piss-faced drunk one night, had pushed himself a little too hard on a young woman who had pushed back. It had been an accident, truly. The young woman had the bruises and scrapes to prove it, she had only been defending herself. 

The Terushimas were world-class inkcasters, a household name. They couldn’t let that sort of behavior get out. They bought out the girl’s silence, making her an offer that she couldn’t refuse after they managed to get her fired and kicked out of her apartment. The case was ruled accidental, Terushimas good name kept clean. 

“You saw the ugly side of the Agency.” Kuroo said and Sawamura nodded. It was important for Kuroo to know this part of the story, to understand that Sawamura hadn’t just started tossing out rules he didn’t agree with simply because they got in his way. Many people thought that of him and for some reason it was important to Sawamura that Kuroo didn’t think that way. 

Only a couple months after the Terushima case, when the younger Terushima had been crashing at Sawamura’s flat, he got another high-profile case. Another high class magical family, full of powerful mages that time. Their 14-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter had gone missing, Sawamura had been put on the case. 

The boy was evil. It was the only way Sawamura could really describe him because there was nothing good within him. He had turned his own small, innocent sister into a demented puppet, cutting off parts of her and replacing them with animal parts. Keeping her alive with magic that choked Sawamura when he came upon where the boy had set up. 

The boy must have killed over two dozen animals, some kept alive in terrible states. There were several mutilated corpses of four homeless people. Sawamura and his team had been sent to clean up the underground death pit. Sawamura hadn’t realized they were not sent there to gather the evidence, to give the dead a respectable burial but to actually clean up the evidence, to make it go away. 

The family wanted the boy intact. He had great power and potential, they believed they could stronghold him into behaving. He had mutilated his own sister, killed countless animals for nothing more than the joy of killing, and tortured four people because he believed they were beneath him. 

When they confronted the boy, Sawamura and two other agents, he managed to kill one of the agents because they were too busy trying to not cause any harm to him. To distracted by the small form and the chubby cheeks of adolescence, their superiors’ words ringing in their ears that they were to bring him in alive and unharmed. 

“I killed him.” Sawamura said softly because there was no way around it. “I killed a 14-year-old boy and that little girl- she had been through hell, hurt beyond measure but she was crying over her brother’s body, yelling at me what had I done.” Sawamura rubbed at the spot over his heart. He knew it was psychological, knew there was nothing wrong with his heart despite the fact that it hurt badly from a wound that had never properly healed. 

“You did what you had to do, he might have been considered legally a child but no good would have come from his continued existence.” Kuroo stated strongly. It had been words Sawamura had heard before, slightly different but the context the same. It didn’t really sooth his guilt or shame. 

“Director Ukai approved of what I did despite others wanting me gone.” Sawamura rolled his shoulders, feeling stiff and tense. “There was a huge trial, it was a mess. Ukai Keishin came back to defend me, he hates the Agency but it was part of my agreement that if I headed Karasuno then he had to be my superior. Kuroo what if one of those creatures got into that boy? What if this is what they wanted all along? For me to restart up Karasuno?” 

“Maybe.” Kuroo frowned before standing up from where he had situated himself on the cot next to Sawamura’s. “But I think you’re giving them too much credit. Clearly they wanted Hinata, that makes sense because he’s a wellspring of power, but I think the rest of you- or the fact that they wanted Karasuno is just some weird, twisted fate they’ve made up. They took over the old Karasuno and they think because Hinata is in this one they need to take over this one as well.” Kuroo shrugged. 

“You’re trying to say I’m applying too much human logic to a bunch of ancient creatures that think of humans as meat?” Sawamura asked. 

“Exactly, you’ll drive yourself crazy trying to figure out what they know or don’t know or why they are doing the things they are.” Kuroo stepped closer to Sawamura. “You just need to know one thing really, how to stop them.” 

“Brilliant, no idea how to do that either.” Sawamura rubbed hard at his face. It hurt, it felt like the entirety of his face was one big bruise that he hadn’t realized was there until he pressed on it. “I’m exhausted and I stink.” 

“Well I can help you with the shower but we’ve got a meeting in 15 minutes and you’re kind of the star of it.” Sawamura had a lot to explain. Kuroo knew bits and pieces of what happened in Magic Ink, but Sawamura needed to explain everything. Along with the new information about Hinata. 

Kuroo helped Sawamura stand, it was difficult because his knees didn’t want to hold up his weight but he managed to make it work after a moments rest. Kuroo was a solid weight next to him, warm and lean. Sawamura couldn’t help but wonder where he’d be if Kuroo wasn’t there. 

There was a small bathroom at the back of the infirmary. Just a couple yards away, a short walk really. It shouldn’t have so thoroughly exhausted Sawamura but it did. Not cleaning off wasn’t really an option though. They had cleaned him down as best they could but he was still covered in a layer of grime and old sweat and there were bits of dried blood all over him. His hair had acquired a new level of grease and he just couldn’t face the other leaders and his superiors in such a state. 

“This isn’t going to work.” Kuroo was frowning before a smirk overtook his features and he was suddenly kicking off his shoes and pulling off his sweater. 

“What are you doing?” Sawamura was surprised at how level his voice was. Kuroo cackled, actually cackled. 

“Taking a shower with you.” His smirk, if possible, widened. “I’ll keep my trousers on, your delicate sensibilities are safe, but honestly Daichi, you think you can shower by yourself right now?” Kuroo wasn’t wrong, which was about 10 different kinds of frustrating to Sawamura. He could barely stand, was putting most of his weight on the small sink. 

“Unbelievable.” Sawamura muttered but he accepted his fate. 

“Hey, some people would fight for the chance to shower with me.” Kuroo said, quite seriously. Sawamura snorted as he pushed down his pants. They were the thin cotton kind, kept in the infirmary along with the matching shirt. Kuroo had to help him get that off, which left him in his black pants, which he refused to take off. 

“I never saw the appeal of showering with someone else.” Sawamura said honestly, fighting against the sheer awkwardness of the situation. 

“You’re a true romantic Daichi.” Kuroo fiddled with the nozzles in the shower. Sawamura did note that it wouldn’t be the worst thing, showering with Kuroo. He was tall, which was frustrating, but he was lean with muscles and only a shade or two lighter than Sawamura’s naturally dark tone. 

“Maybe we can fix that rooster mess of a hair of yours.” Kuroo patted his hair self consciously. 

“Uncalled for Daichi, I don’t purposely style it like this y’know.” Kuroo pouted but Sawamura could tell he was not serious. They shuffled into the shower, Kuroo supporting most of Sawamura’s substantial weight and the water was just this side of scalding, which hurt for a second before it felt nice enough that Sawamura wanted to groan in appreciation, but he didn’t. Groaning because of hot water when you were sharing a shower with a demon you were contract-bound to was not acceptable. 

As if any of this was acceptable. 

“So,” Sawamura started off, trying to sound innocent as Kuroo massaged shampoo into his hair. It felt good, better than Sawamura would ever willingly admit out loud. Kuroo’s fingers were long and worked softly against Sawamura’s scalp. 

“So?” Kuroo prompted because Sawamura had nearly fallen asleep, right there in the shower with Kuroo’s hands in his hair.

“The psychic communication, is that common?” Sawamura asked, switching questions from what he had previously wanted to ask. 

“I don’t know.” Kuroo answered after a moment. “I don’t know if you think we have super secret demon meetings AA-style but we tend to avoid each other really. Writing things down could get us in trouble so there are not any books or grimoires we can study. Also I’ve never been bound to anyone before.” Sawamura leaned under the spray of water, letting the shampoo run out before he took a deep breath. 

“How long have you known that we don’t have to be near each other?” Sawamura asked, looking up at Kuroo and wishing he hadn’t. It wasn’t as if Kuroo was especially attractive and most people don’t look good wet with their hair tight against their scalp, but showering together was strangely intimate. It was easier when they weren’t making eye contact. 

“Oh uh- yeah.” Kuroo grinned sheepishly, picking up a generic soap but Sawamura took that from him, leaning heavily against the shower wall. No way was he going to let Kuroo soap him down. No, not going to happen. “I didn’t at first, I thought it would only appear if we moved apart but then- I don’t know, there’s no need to be near each other I guess but I can kind of- I know the direction you are? Like a compass.” Kuroo’s eyes followed where Sawamura spread the soap, his face felt hot and he quickly soaped up his torso. The gauze was waterproof and it was better to leave it until Watari told him otherwise. 

“So why stay?” Sawamura couldn’t help but ask as Kuroo helped him out of the shower. Sawamura leaned tiredly against the sink, feeling like he could sleep for a week and still be tired. 

“Isn’t it obvious?” Kuroo asked, fingers twisting into a towel. “I’ll go get us clothes, don’t pass out.” Kuroo strode out, not even bothering to towel himself off. Sawamura used another towel, pulling off his wet pants before wrapping the towel around his waist before using another smaller towel to dry his hair. 

“Is Oikawa like you?” Sawamura asked as soon as Kuroo had returned to the bathroom. If given proper time, Kuroo could lie with the best of them but Sawamura knew how to throw people off. He didn’t do it often, he didn’t believe in prying into people's lives just to quench his own curiosity. 

“Um- Oikawa- hmmm.” Kuroo stuttered before standing to his full height but it was already too late. Sawamura laughed as he took the clean clothes from Kuroo. 

“Can you sense each other?” Sawamura tried to portray through his relaxed body language and calm words that it was alright. Sawamura wasn’t about to give away Oikawa’s secret anytime soon. Even if Sawamura didn’t personally like Oikawa, he didn’t think he was evil or bad. Plus Sawamura trusted Iwaizumi, who had been friends with Oikawa since childhood, and he trusted Iwaizumi’s judgement. 

“Sort of. I can’t walk into a room and tell you who’s a demon but if we have contact with each other than usually we can.” The moment when Oikawa had walked into Sawamura’s office had struck him as strange. Oikawa could give in to childish tendencies, but he didn’t know Kuroo. Kuroo was tall and handsome, Sawamura expected Oikawa to flirt with him, not immaturely step all over his papers and Kuroo had let it go as if it was nothing. 

“I’m starting to feel as if I don’t really know anything.” Sawamura pulled on the clothes, dropping the towels and dirty clothes into a hamper. Kuroo had also changed, looking smart in a pair of black slacks and a deep red jumper. It was ridiculous really, how aware Sawamura had become of Kuroo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully the longer length of this chapter made up for the few extra days it took to post it!
> 
> Huge thanks to **audriel** for editing this chapter!


	9. Sawamura Daichi and the Meddlesome Tendencies

Sawamura and Kuroo walked side by side down the hall, away from the meeting that had taken place. It had gone as well as expected when it came to a room full of people used to being in charge. It was agreed that all departments would be helping out on this, which drained some of the tension out of Sawamura’s body, he hadn’t even realized the effect of having other people help would have. But he knew it wasn’t just for Karasuno’s benefit, these creatures had attacked their city, the country they had given an oath to protect and they had gone on twenty-odd years unpoliced. 

Ushijima had asked why they didn’t disband Karasuno. It was a logical question because Ushijima to the very core was a logical person. Director Ukai had stepped in, explaining that breaking up Karasuno wouldn’t stop the creatures, and it would probably cause more trouble. The Karasuno members would be separated into different teams and they would be momentarily weakened, trying to find their place into other teams, making their strengths fit against others’ weaknesses. Ushijima had accepted that, cold logic met with cold logic. 

“Why are you pouting?” Sawamura asked, slightly amused despite the serious situation. Kuroo hadn’t spoken much, just verified most of Sawamura’s findings. His Director Nekomata, an old rival and friend of the older Ukai, had been there, grinning over at Kuroo as if the man hadn’t just come back from the dead. 

“I’m not pouting.” Kuroo said dismissively. 

“Sulking.” Sawamura resisted the urge to eblow him. 

“I’m a grown man Daichi.” Kuroo turned his head, lower lip sticking out in what he claimed was neither a pout nor him sulking but was clearly a little of both. Sawamura laughed, not even bothering to try and hide it. 

“I have to speak to Oikawa, meet you in the cafeteria?” Sawamura didn’t know why he was asking to meet back up. They both had multiple things to do and he wasn’t even sure if Kuroo was hungry in the first place. Sawamura was exhausted still but he couldn’t give his body the rest it wanted, so he would have to pack in the food. He didn’t need someone to eat with but- no, he had no excuse or reason to wanting to meet back up with Kuroo. 

“Where does all that food go?” Kuroo grumbled, still not-pouting and not-sulking as he headed off down the hall as Sawamura walked over to Oikawa. He was talking to Iwaizumi, Hanamaki, and Matsukawa but they all stopped when they saw Sawamura wander over. 

“Daichi, you look like shit.” Hanamaki grinned at him, Iwaizumi closed his eyes in resignation that he was surrounded by sarcastic jerks. 

“Hanamaki, you look as lovely as ever.” Sawamura smiled back because he was also surrounded by sarcastic jerks and he knew, despite the sarcastic tone and bored look that it was Hanamaki’s way of worrying. Of asking if everything was alright without exposing his soft underbelly. Too bad Sawamura already knew he was a big lumpy blob of caring goo. 

“That was smooth.” Matsukawa’s heavy lidded gaze slide over Sawamura, assessing and clever. Sawamura shrugged one shoulder before meeting Oikawa’s eyes, the one person who had been surprisingly quiet during the exchange. He was looking stubbornly away from Sawamura, lips pressed together tightly. He had tried to make another move to get Sugawara in his team during the meeting, it had gone as well as all previous attempts. 

“Can we talk Oikawa?” Sawamura asked, ignoring the heavy looks from Oikawa’s team and friends. Like Asahi and Sugawara, Oikawa had gone to high school with Hanamaki and Matsukawa. They might not know Oikawa as well as Iwaizumi but they knew Sawamura well enough to know that he never purposely wanted to get Oikawa alone. 

“Oh does Grumpymura want some alone time with-” 

“Shut up dumbass.” Iwaizumi ground his elbow into Oikawa’s side. Kageyama’s favorite insult was ‘dumbass’ and he had been trained extensively by Iwaizumi. The lean young man had learned a lot of mannerisms from Iwaizumi, he had all of Iwaizumi’s rough mannerisms but without the charm the older man carried towards everyone besides Oikawa. It made Kageyama a little difficult to deal with, but seeing his mannerisms done by Iwaizumi always made Sawamura smile. 

“Ow Iwa!” Oikawa exclaimed dramatically. 

“Sweets work but anything spicy is better.” Sawamura interrupted them, knowing that Oikawa was being particularly stubborn and would delay until he could slip away. Everyone’s attention turned to him, curious and confused. Sawamura felt the back of his neck heat up in embarrassment but he plowed on anyways. “Foodwise that is, you can cook so-” 

“You hate spicy food!” Oikawa crowed. 

“He’s not talking about himself asskawa.” Iwaizumi grumbled, catching on before everyone else. Sawamura shoved his hands into his pocket to stop himself from rubbing the back of his neck in an embarrassed tick he had never really grown out of. 

“Food will work wonders but you have to stop trying to make decisions for him.” Sawamura forged on despite his embarrassment. He really didn’t want to do this at all but he definitely didn’t want to do it in front of a crowd. He was surprised at the restraint Hanamaki and Matsukawa were showing by not commenting. Those two always had something to say. 

“I’m not trying to make decisions for him.” Oikawa grumbled, dropping the feigned innocent act. 

“You are, everytime you try and get him on your team without actually including him in the decision-making process.” Sawamura felt like he was in high school. No, worse than that, middle school because by high school no one tried to use him as a gopher between themselves and the person they liked. Sawamura had certainly never put himself in that situation either. He always though the direct approach was the best kind but he had realized something in the meeting. 

Sawamura had believed Sugawara didn’t really have any romantic interest in Oikawa. Oikawa and Sawamura couldn’t be more different in personalities and looks, and if Sawamura was being truthful he had gotten the slight idea that Sugawara had more than friendship feelings towards him. Sugawara never brought it up, Sawamura didn’t think it was his place to say anything so they never openly discussed it but it was there. Yet during the meeting, when Oikawa had offered up Sugawara to be on his team, Sawamura noticed something. Sugawara was angry, beyond frustrated and annoyed. Many people tried to snipe Sugawara to their team, and they mostly did it behind Sugawara’s back. Mostly he just dealt with it with dismissive smiles but Oikawa had gotten under Sugawara’s skin, not an easy task. 

Sawamura couldn’t be positive that Sugawara actually might be interested in Oikawa, but he had known the other man for over a decade and was pretty confident in his theory. Sugawara liked Oikawa but Oikawa was doing everything wrong. Sawamura did not want to involve himself in other people's love lives but Sugawara was one of his oldest and closest friend. He could not go back in time and smack some sense into Asahi so the other man wouldn’t have to pine away for Nishinoya for five years for no reason, but he could bite back his embarrassment to help out Sugawara now. 

“If Suga wanted to join your team, he would have.” Their superiors would probably love it. Sugawara had followed Sawamura onto Karasuno, but as a med mage he was more valuable to the larger teams. 

“Because of you-” 

“Yes, because of me.” Sawamura took a step towards Oikawa, ignoring the significant height difference. “And not because of whatever half cocked scheme your mind has made up about him being madly in love with me. Sugawara joined Karasuno for the same reason Iwaizumi joined Aoba Johsai.” Because despite all their vast differences Sawamura and Oikawa had one key thing in common. Both would work themselves into an early grave to protect those around them. Iwaizumi made sure Oikawa ate and slept and basically took care of himself because the other man dismissed those things easily. Sugawara did the same but with biting words hidden behind sweet smiles instead of the kicks and headbutts Iwaizumi used towards Oikawa. 

“He loves you.” Oikawa bit out. 

“It doesn’t mean he can’t love other people.” Sawamura said back quickly. It was something Terushima had taught him with his boundless feelings. Terushima was in love with Sawamura and loved him too, but it didn’t stop him from loving other people. Sugawara had loved Sawamura the longest, but it didn’t negate the feelings he had for others. “If you can’t get over your own selfish feelings then you don’t deserve him. We’re adults Oikawa, our entire lives can’t revolve around one specific person. You can’t control him, the same way he’d never bemoan you loving Hajime. If you can’t accept that then you don’t deserve him, hell you don’t deserve him right now doing things this shitty half-assed way.” Sawamura felt highly uncomfortable, thinking maybe this wasn’t the best of ideas but there was no turning back now. 

“Half-assed?” Oikawa was trying to pull on his public face. All big fake smiles and airy laughter. It made Sawamura cringe. “I didn’t know you even knew swear words Dai.” 

“And whatever is going on between you and Kageyama needs to stop.” Something dark crossed Oikawa’s features. “Suga has practically adopted him and you trying to bait Kageyama at every chance is not going to work out well for you. If you make Suga choose between you or Kageyama, you won’t win.” Oikawa’s face screwed up tight, anger and disbelief and jealousy ruling out. Sawamura didn’t know what was in Oikawa and Kageyama’s past, and frankly he didn’t really care. He wasn’t asking Oikawa to befriend his junior, but the animosity had to stop. 

“Anything else?” Oikawa sniffed finally, a clear dismissal. 

“If you decide you don’t want him after using my advice I will pull your soul out, bind it to a toad and then make you watch as I slow dismantle your body limb-from-limb.” Sawamura deadpanned. “And then I will put that toad, with your soul stuck in it, in a little box and give it to Kageyama as a present.” Oikawa’s face screwed up, his three teammates looked away quickly. “I’m kidding of course, I will kill you though.” Oikawa stared into his eyes and paled because Sawamura let him see how serious he was.  
Sawamura bowed politely to everyone before starting to walk down the hall. 

“Sawamura.” Oikawa called out, looking pained. “About Kuroo, he’s-” 

“I know.” Sawamura said quickly, glancing because Oikawa to try and read the others’ facial expressions. He figured Iwaizumi knew about Oikawa being a demon, but he wasn’t sure about the other two. Matsukawa was as hard to read as ever, but there was a slight widening of Hanamaki’s eyes that gave him away. 

“Oh?” Oikawa asked, eyebrows rising a fraction. 

“Suga knows too, doesn’t seem to bother him.” Sawamura said because it seemed like a clear hurdle that Oikawa thought he would have to overcome. Oikawa’s face lost all pretense of fake cheerfulness, it was open and honest for a brief second. Hopeful and a little lost. Sawamura turned before he could see much more because it seemed nearly voyeuristic. He continued walking down the hall. 

Kinoshita and Narita were in the elevator when it stopped on Sawamura’s floor. He smiled warmly at them, glad to see both were looking well. Well rested, properly fed with well-fitting clothes that clearly didn’t come out of a gym bag like Sawamura’s. 

“How are you feeling Kinoshita?” Sawamura asked, motioning to the other man's head. There was a stilted air between the two, a space that usually didn’t exist. They had gained an easy friendship when they joined Karasuno, it was rare to see them without Ennoshita but even more rare to see them at odds with each other. Kinoshita and Narita could be as loud and rambunctious as the rest of the team, but they were both private people. They usually didn’t let their private affairs interfere with work. Sawamura let it pass because despite the fact they were always pulling pranks, the past couple weeks had been stressful for everyone. 

“Oh- yes, sorry, all healed.” Kinoshita said after a moment's hesitation, fingers brushing against his forehead where there was no visible mark from the gash he had. 

“Good, we’ll be organizing a thorough check of the west section with a couple other teams so I want you both to rest up and take care of yourselves, but be ready to move out at any moment.” Sawamura said and they both nodded. 

“I’ve actually got an acquaintance in Taiwan who’s studied old scrolls and scriptures about ancient creatures, I’m hoping maybe she knows something that could help us.” Kinoshita spoke up as the elevator dinged onto their floor. 

“That sounds excellent.” Sawamura clapped both of them on the shoulder before they could exit the elevator. “Thank you for your help.” Both stood taller, smiles a little less strained as they bowed and walked down the hall. The elevator closed once more. 

It was sometimes odd for Sawamura, to be looked up to. He forgot the effect he had on his team sometimes, maybe took it for granted. He needed to make sure to speak with them more often. It had been hectic and stressful lately, but he needed them to know all the facts and that he was there for them. 

More than anything Sawamura wanted to sleep, second to that he wanted to go to the cafeteria and eat so much food that Kuroo gave him that look. That look that said he couldn’t believe Sawamura didn’t weigh 180 kilograms. One day Sawamura planned to sit Kuroo down with his team so he could watch the dawning horror of Hinata, Kageyama, Nishinoya, and Tanaka eating enough food for a small country. That was what Sawamura wanted but he stepped out of the elevator and headed to the training room instead of the cafeteria because what he wanted wasn’t what was important right then. 

Sawamura didn’t know what to say to Hinata, didn’t know if there was anything he could say to make things any easier for him. He’d stick with the truth, that they would get the creature who had hurt him, hurt his family. Sawamura couldn’t get the picture of little 10-year-old Hinata Shouyou out of his mind, the pictures that the investigators had taken and the descriptions in his file. Even tinier than he was now, thinner and the only thing keeping him from looking like a sharp wind would break him in half was his large personality that was absent when he was finally found. Crawling down the road, covered in blood with his broken legs trailing behind him. Thin and pale and in shock.   
Sawamura stepped into the training room and stopped dead on his tracks. 

Mages light was a simple magic really, something taught as basics. It took very little magic but a lot of concentration to hold the light, not too dim but not too bright. It was harmless if too much magic was added. It felt like nothing, not heat or cold or air or wind. It was just a soft glowing orb meant to light up a dark area. Basic, but most people couldn’t go beyond two mage lights. Too much split concentration. Ennoshita could hold four and that had always been impressive to Sawamura who could make two if he didn’t do anything else. It was a bit like juggling, messy at first and hard to see progress but after practice it became almost second nature. A juggler could do it easily but there still had to be concentration on what they were juggling, the same with mage lights. 

The training room was filled with them. About a dozen glowing mage lights drifting around the otherwise dark room. Nearly an electric blue in the center, fading out to a soft glow on the outer edges. 

Sawamura looked around the room in surprise. He harked on teamwork but sometimes he forgot about it himself. Forgot that the members of Karasuno looked out for each other, that Hinata didn’t have to just rely on Sawamura solely. 

Sawamura took a seat by Sugawara, who was clumped together with the rest of the Karasuno members minus Kinoshita, Narita, and Tsukishima. Sugawara pulled his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs and resting his chin on his knees in a move Sawamura hadn’t seen since they were in high school. Old habits, self comforting. 

In the middle of the mage lights were Hinata and Kageyama, only a yard away from where Sawamura and Sugawara were situated. Hinata was lying on his back, limbs spread wide and close to a sitting Kageyama, closer than Kageyama usually let him get. Kageyama had his legs folded, head bent, fingers held apart like there was an invisible ball between them. His brows were knit close together in concentration. 

Sawamura looked at all the mage lights, noting how they were all the same color. A dozen mage lights produced and held on by Kageyama Tobio. The kid really was a monster, but he was their monster so Sawamura relaxed, leaning back to rest on his elbows as he looked up at the glowing orbs. 

Kageyama produced another, it flickered in between his hands before solidifying itself. Hinata turned his head, the blue light casting eerie shadows over his usually young looking face. There were tear tracks on his cheeks but his eyes were clear and he looked nearly content. Kageyama let the orb go, watching as it hovered for a moment before drifting away. Hinata raised a hand, softly brushing his fingers over the orb, and they all watched as the outer edges turned a faint orange before fading to back to blue. 

Sugawara leaned against Sawamura, head resting lightly on his shoulder. Sawamura felt himself relax further and silently thanked Sugawara. None of them had ever been very good at staying angry with each other for long. A glance over Sugawara’s head to look at Asahi, head tilted back, face relaxed and Sawamura felt like home. 

Kageyama was sensitive. He tried not to be in the same way most 20-year-olds try with one worded answers and grunts instead of words, scowls when he wanted to smile, things like that. It was silly and ridiculous but it was a coping mechanism and it revealed more than he would ever admit. Kageyama wanted the group to function perfectly together, and he knew the fights he got into with Hinata disrupted that. But Hinata was loud and not afraid to say whatever was on his mind, whatever he was feeling and to someone like Kageyama, who hid emotions behind deep frowns, that was a little overwhelming.

No one had to tell Sawamura that this was clearly Kageyama’s idea. He had probably bodily shoved and pushed Hinata into the training room and onto the ground. Grumbling something like ‘shut up dumbass, I have to concentrate’. He’d play it off as training, seeing how many mage lights he could produce and control. 

Hinata was sitting up now, head tilted back, eyes slightly unfocused. Kageyama’s face was covered in a thin layer of sweat, eyes clenched tightly in concentration. Hinata shifted slowly, pressing his back to Kageyama’s and leaning against him. The reaction was nearly instant, Kageayama’s shoulders relaxed, his face became slack and the mage lights flickered. 

Inside the glowing orbs there twirled tiny orange tornadoes with an opaque wall of soft blue around them. 

Everyone sat up a little, watched a bit closer to the magic happening between the two men. No one’s magic was the same as anyone else's, and it took years of training to find a cohesive balance between people. It was why so many teams were made up of people who had gone to school together, who were childhood friends. Sawamura’s magic worked well with Sugawara’s and Asahi’s simply because they had known each other so long, they had trained for hours each day to gain a semblance of balance between themselves. It wasn’t necessary, that balance, to be a strong team. Teams like Shiratorizawa concentrated on individual strengths rather than group strength like Aoba Johsai. 

Most team leaders chose their applicants based on how cohesive they’d be within the already established group dynamics. Sawamura never had those choices, he was saddled with all the misfits and the unwanted, with the exception of a few. 

Finding two people whose magic meshed near-perfectly was almost unheard of. It did happen but very rarely, and those two were always extremely powerful. It had been a surprise to everyone when Hinata and Kageyama ended up being that rare pair, that odd duo. With all their fighting and arguments, with Kageyama’s long and extensive studies and practicing of his magic and Hinata’s pure power and instincts it shouldn’t have worked. They were usually too busy bickering for their magic to synchronize but when it did, it was beautiful and awe-inspiring and left people speechless. 

Kageyama relaxed, shoulders slumping and his head tilted back, resting lightly against Hinata’s as the mage lights danced slowly and gracefully around the room.   
Sawamura wanted to huddle his team up together and barricade the doors to keep them safe. It was a fierce need that he battled down because none of them would appreciate it but his mind was already calculating how much energy and power would have to go into creating a barrier around the training room. 

It was a sign of Sawamura’s tired mind, that he needed to get up and get moving again or he’d fall asleep right then and there. There was too much to do, too much research and training and he had far too many people to speak with. So with that thought in mind Sawamura pushed himself up, lightly cuffing the back of Sugawara’s head before moving towards the door. 

At the last moment Sawamura turned and nudged Nishinoya’s leg with his foot before nodding towards the door. Nishinoya leaped up and followed him out quickly, an intense and curious look planted on his sharp features. 

“Have you talked to Asahi recently?” Sawamura asked before he could stop himself. Remind himself he hated butting into other people’s lives and that Asahi probably had a valid reason for not bringing it up directly with Nishinoya. They had a lot to do, more important things than a relationship that clearly wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Nishinoya would wait for Asahi and Asahi would do the same. They could wait until after the newest threat was eliminated. 

Except sitting in that quiet room, softly lit up by mage lights because one broken person was trying to help another broken person made Sawamura think that they deserved happiness. Nishinoya and Asahi had waited long enough and alright, it might not be the best timing but they were members of the Agency, there really was no good timing. There was always another threat to be dealt with, assignments to go over, documents to write up, training to do, so on and so forth until you were old and wrinkled and wondering where the time went. 

Or maybe it was the sleep depreviation speaking, Sawamura wasn’t quite sure but he wasn’t going to argue. 

“Um- no? Not today.” Nishinoya shifted, looking strained and bit awkward. 

“I’m just going to say this and then walk away, okay?” Sawamura rubbed the back of his quickly warming neck, embarrassed to be stepping into someone else's love life again. Sugawara would never let him live it down. “The company policy on fraternization between co-workers was put into place to protect junior members from unwanted advances from their superiors, it was not put there to stop two consenting adults from doing whatever two consenting adults want to do.” 

“Daichi?” Nishinoya choked out, eyes wide. 

“Takeda started out as Ukai’s assistant, they started dating something like a year in, way before Takeda got his teaching degrees and now they’ve been married for years.” Sawamura couldn’t meet Nishinoya’s eyes any longer. “Ukai won’t reprimand either of you, neither will I. Director Ukai doesn’t care as long as you continue to do your job.” With that Sawamura turned on his heel and made good with his promise to leave. 

Embarrassing, to be so involved in someone else's love life when Sawamura had no such love life to speak of. What right did he have giving other people advice when he had never had a successful relationship? Hell, he had never even had a relationship last more than a month. Work came first, it always came first and he had never been one to not be upfront about it but the people he had dated always found a reason to complain about it anyways. 

Close to five years. That was how long Asahi and Nishinoya had been dancing around each other because of some preconceived notion that they couldn’t be together. Sawamura had always taken an active role in his friend’s lives, not pushing or making decisions for them, but being apart of it instead of an outsider. When had that changed? When did he stop asking questions and start assuming answers? 

Sawamura knew when. About five years when he was given responsibility of Karasuno. He had thought being in a leadership position meant he had to take a step back from everything and he was just now realizing how wrong he had been. 

Kuroo was surrounded by the few members of Nekoma in Section Five. Sawamura was considering grabbing his food and eating back in his office to get some work done and giving Kuroo time alone with his friends. Kuroo spotted him before he could make a decision and smiled, waving him over. Something warm flared inside Sawamura’s chest but he brushed it off as heartburn despite the fact that he had never actually had heartburn and he hadn’t eaten anything yet. 

“I got you shoyu ramen because you’re boring.” Kuroo slid a full bowl of ramen over to Sawamura as he sat down. Sawamura concealed his surprise with a fake huff of indignation because he had only mentioned his favorite food was shoyu ramen with extra shallots and pork, which there were plenty of, once and briefly. He hadn’t even been talking to Kuroo, though Kuroo had been next to him. 

Sawamura rubbed absently at that warm spot in his chest as he began to eat his ramen, listening to the conversation around him. He could tell the other Nekoma members were still wary around him, still trying to analyze and assess him with their nearly cat-like gazes. Kuroo’s calm acceptance of him seemed to settle any of their lingering bad wishes towards him though, which was good enough for him so he remained quiet and let them talk. 

“There was a small village in Falkland Islands that was completely wiped out, when others finally found it they stated that the bodies were emaciated.” Yaku stated, pushing away his half finished food to Lev who cooed happily and began to dig in. “A couple decades later there was the same incident in in Ecuador, and even later in El Salvador.” Sawamura’s geography wasn’t that great but he was pretty sure it sounded like it was making its way up. 

“They ruled it as a disease.” Inuoka pointed out, fiddling with his milk carton. 

“Diseases like that don’t usually skip over entire countries like that, they spread from a single point of origin like dropping a stone into a pond, the waves representing the spread of the disease.” There were papers in the middle of the table, folders that Sawamura guessed all this information was in. His fingers itched to take hold of it, to read it himself but he wasn’t sure if that would be appreciated. 

“El Salvador reported years before that incident there was a-” Kenma scrunched up his face. “Great Cleansing in that area.” Sawamura’s shoulders stiffened. Nothing good came out of a ‘cleansing’ of an area. It usually meant a lot of people died, those with what people called “tainted bloodlines” or those not strictly human, and even more innocent people got caught in the crossfire. No wonder Kenma had pulled such a face. 

“Was there anything like that in the other villages?” Sawamura asked. Five sets of eerie cat eyes landed on him, assessing and calculating. 

“These are very old, there could have been but they weren’t written down like the one in El Salvador.” Yaku finally answered. It had seemed like a long pause of silence but Sawamura knew it had only been a second or two. 

“Here, there are some drawings, see if they look like what you saw.” Kuroo pushed the files over to Sawamura, putting the Ecuador one on top. There was a foreign writing near it, and next to that neatly scrawled the translation. Sawamura forced his face into a neutral look as he flipped through the drawings and the translated notes. Eyes scanning the pages, cataloguing the facts but not letting it touch him in any way even when it came to the tiny little bodies. 

“The children and elderly were killed outright.” Just like the four members of the old Karasuno they had found. “They put several into a hut and-” 

“They starved to death.” Yamamoto finished dully but his eyes were outraged. Raging for a people who had died hundreds of years prior to him even being born. Sawamura kept looking over the drawings and translation, flipping back and forth as he let himself consider it. 

“They don’t know how humans work.” Sawamura said slowly. “If this is the same creatures then it’s like they put off those people to the side for later and forgot they would need food and water to survive. It’s the same with the bodies they inhabit, they don’t understand that they need to feed their bodies.” The way they moved, how the one creature had even talked like it was grounding spitting the words out in a painful manner. 

“When parasite demons take over a host they destroy the hosts soul and without that, the body starts to rot.” It became like a walking corpse. The demon could hold on for quite a while if it was strong, could even push off the impending rot but eventually the body fell apart. “You said these creatures live with the human soul.” Yaku was tapping his fingers rapidly against the table, as if he was typing something out or counting. 

“The bodies can survive as long as the creature remembers to do all the necessary things a human needs to survive.” Kuroo spoke up. 

“But if they are really the same creatures as these files, if they are as ancient as they claim then they simply forget.” Sawamura tried not to think about the old Karasuno members, stuck inside their dying bodies. Could they feel themselves starving to death? Thirsting for one sip of water? Desperately needing to close their eyes and rest for a while? 

“So something nasty happens, like a killing an innocent or a bunch of innocent people and these things are allowed a purchase in this world?” Yamamoto asked because it fit. A “cleansing” involved a lot of negative emotions, hate and fear being prevalent. Areas like that, like the west section, became breeding grounds for nightmare creatures. 

“It made it seem like they couldn’t enter a human body without breaking their spirit first.” Sawamura had to say it because they wouldn’t know it otherwise. It had wanted Sawamura to break, wanted Hinata to break before it could worm its way into their bodies. 

“Or by invitation.” Kuroo spoke softly, frowning down at his hands. “Those files I read, the ones from the Small Giant, I think he might have accepted that thing into himself. He was crazy intense, probably thought he could maybe control it or wanted to protect other people from stumbling upon it. Or maybe he just wanted more power, I don’t know, but the notes- the second set from right before he disappeared, it was so drastically different from his first set. I think he realized the mistake he made.” Sawamura shifted in his seat, his knee knocking against Kuroo’s. He was about to pull back, to move back into his own space before Kuroo’s knee pushed lightly against his. A small comfort, unthinkingly done. Sawamura left his leg where it was, ignored the burning on his neck. 

“You think he lost control and lured the rest of his team into the west side to be taken over by the rest of the creatures?” Lev asked excitedly, bumping into the table and making all the dishes rattle. Necromancers were an odd group, dealing the dead was distasteful for most and eventually turned them all a little strange. Lev looked no different, though his abnormal height and skinny limbs with his wide set green eyes didn’t help with that. He would have unnerved Sawamura but he had seen the rest of Nekoma treat Lev as an overgrown puppy, had watched as he fought with Hinata over their vast height differences. He was odd but maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. 

“Maybe.” Kuroo answered after a moment's hesitation. The Small Giant could have played an unwitting role or maybe he was perfectly innocent, but it was still wrong to speak ill of the dead even for the Provocation Expert Kuroo. 

“You said they were living corpses though.” Lev turned those headlight eyes onto Sawamura. Sawamura nodded slowly. 

“They were rotting and not breathing.” Sawamura didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to put himself back there. Kuroo’s knee pushed a little harder against his, he breathed a little easier. “Maybe they can survive in corpses for a while but they need new hosts.” If they had killed their hosts body by neglect- they would need new ones. The villages had been abandoned but the creatures seemed to set up post here. “Can you control them if there is something else already controlling them?” Sawamura asked Lev, edging away from his own memories. 

“Yes.” Lev said confidently, quickly. The following snorts and eye rolls of his teammates weren’t reasuring. 

“Everyone should get some rest while they can.” Kuroo spoke up, watching the various nods of his friends and team members. No one moved, lost in their own thoughts. 

“U-um Sawamura?” Sawamura looked over to a nervous looking Inuoka. Sawamura remembered scowling at the poor boy when Kuroo had first been summoned, he felt a bit bad about that now. “How is Shouyou doing?” Sawamura wasn’t even surprised that Hinata had already befriended the other man. They were about the same age and had similar personalities. Though Sawamura wished Hinata were as observant as Inuoka. 

“Better, he’s had a difficult time.” Sawamura answered, narrowing his eyes slightly at Inuoka’s relieved sigh. Everyone else at the table was watching Inuoka with great interest and that was what really tipped Sawamura off. He didn’t know the young man well enough to recognize the intricacies of his emotions, but his team did. Crushes must be a great relief from all the talk of death and corpses. 

“That’s- yeah, that’s good. Good. Good that he’s-” Inuoka forcefully closed his mouth as Yamamoto elbowed him in the side, cackling loudly.

“Oho what’s this then?” Kuroo asked, smirk firmly in place as he leaned forward towards Inuoka. Inuoka’s face was quickly turning red. 

“It’s not like that!” Inuoka yelped in a completely unbelievable tone. Sawamura grinned because it was so obviously innocent. Sawamura couldn’t even remember the last time he had an innocent crush on someone, maybe not since he was 16 and met the younger Ukai for the first time. That was embarrassing and he’d never tell anyone about that ever. 

“Hold on.” Sawamura stood up, biting back a groan as his body protested the movement. He kept forgetting how tired and sore and used his body was. Maybe a quick kip was needed after all and then he could focus fully on work. 

Sawamura could feel all their eyes on him, watching and curious. There were a lot of cats that hung out by his grandparents’ shrine and therefore his house, he had seen the new ones show up, feral and distrustful until he proved that he was calm and kind and wouldn’t pull on ears or tails. When he first met the Nekoma members they had been like that. Metaphorical tails twitching angrily behind them, ears bent back, ready and willing to fight or flee. They slowly began to tolerate him, allowed his presence near them. Now he was about to reach out and try and pet them for the first time. Figuratively speaking, he was not sure any of them would really enjoy being petted by him. 

Maybe Kuroo. 

Sawamura nearly dropped all his money as that thought struck him. What a weird stray thought, but it wasn’t as if it wasn’t true. Sawamura didn’t ask about the near-year Kuroo was technically dead, didn’t know much about his former life before that at all. He seemed like the type to enjoy close proximity to others. He was always leaning against Kozume or knocking his shoulder into Yaku’s. 

But Sawamura knew that was just side-ways thinking because he specifically thought that Kuroo wouldn’t mind being touched by him. It made things a little awkward, admitting that yes, alright, Inuoka might not be the only one at that table with a crush. The timing was awful and Sawamura would never admit to the feelings when Kuroo was bound to him. Yes, Sawamura believed that Kuroo might not be opposed to his feelings but Sawamura had all the power with that contract. 

Sawamura shoved those thoughts to be dealt with after they figured out how to stop a dozen or so ancient creatures from reigning death and destruction unto Tokyo. 

Sawamura put a bag in front of Inuoka, watching as the other man opened it and looked up at him quizzically. 

“Meat buns?” Inuoka asked. Lev let out an excited noise, reaching for them before being yanked back by Yaku. 

“They are Hinata’s favorite.” Sawamura felt that same tickle of unease, of stepping where maybe he shouldn’t. Uneven, unknown ground. Interfering in someone else's life but really, it was just meat buns. “Most of the team is in the training room, there’s enough for everyone in there.” Realization dawned on Inuoka and he positively beamed, bright and cheery. Sawamura found himself smiling in response without realizing it. 

“Thank you Sawamura!” Inuoka popped up, Lev tumbling after him in a less graceful matter. 

“He looks like a baby giraffe.” All long awkward limbs. Asahi had been the same way before he had gotten more comfortable in his own skin, put on some muscle but Sawamura had a feeling Lev would always be a stringbean. 

“Why would you do that?” Yamamoto asked, sounding unsure if he wanted to fight Sawamura or high five him. Sawamura was used to Tanaka and Nishinoya so Yamamoto didn’t intimidate him much. 

“Isn’t Hinata with that- um-” Yaku stopped, looking pained. Yaku seemed like the type of person raised to be too polite to call someone by a not-so-nice nickname. Kageyama had a lot of mean nicknames. 

“Kageyama.” Kuroo supplied. “They’re not together.” 

“No, they aren’t.” Not yet, or maybe not ever. Sawamura didn’t know. Sometimes, like before, it seemed like two people couldn’t be made for each other any more than Hinata or Kageyama but most of the time they argued and bickered and name called and sometimes they even came to physical blows. Sawamura didn’t spend too much time analyzing his juniors’ love lives. 

“It still doesn’t explain why you’d do that.” Yamamoto spoke again. 

“Inuoka seems like a good influence.” Sawamura said honestly. "You're not pouting anymore." Kuroo sputtered at the sudden topic change. “I wasn’t pouting!” Kuroo defended.

“I wasn’t pouting!” Kuroo defended. 

“You’re pouting right now.” Sawamura said with a grin. 

“Am not.” 

“Are too.” Kenma mumbled, looking down at his phone once more. 

“Am not.” 

“Are too.” Kuroo looked away, pressing his lips together into a tight line and looking like he was forcing himself hard not to pout. 

“Am not.” Kuroo grunted quietly, met with a quick ‘are too’ from Kenma. 

“He doesn’t understand why you didn’t out him during the meeting.” Yaku interceded, looking equal parts fond and annoyed. There were parts it would have been easier to explain if he had told them that Kuroo was a demon, but he hadn’t ever brought it up. 

“Oh that?” Sawamura shrugged. “I wanted them focused on the task at hand, plus many already know what you are, or at least most of our superiors anyways.” Kuroo looked at him, still sulking a little so Sawamura let him know the rest of the reason. “Many would have reacted the same way I did at first, it would have caused unnecessary fighting and arguing and I didn’t want you and the rest of Nekoma defending yourselves when you’ve come to help. Director Ukai and Nekomata trust you, what you are isn’t important it’s your actions that count and you’ve proved countless times you’re worthy of trust and a little secrecy.” Everyone was staring at him once again. 

“Damn, Kai wins the bet, doesn’t he?” Yamamoto groaned. “He said you’d come around.” Yamamoto huffed and puffed as he got up, followed by Yaku and Kozume. Kozume stopped for a moment, peering over at Sawamura before he squeezed Kuroo’s shoulder lightly and all three walked out. 

“That’s not the only reason.” Kuroo said with a smirk once his team members were out of earshot. Sawamura handed over one of the two meat buns he had saved for himself and Kuroo. “About you helping Inuoka that is.” Kuroo waited patiently as Sawamura pulled back the paper wrapper and took a bite of the steaming meat bun. He wasn’t sulking or pouting anymore.

“I don’t know if Hinata likes Inuoka in that way, he likes mostly everyone in some small sense.” Sawamura answered. “Maybe he is in love with Kageyama, or maybe he likes Aone or maybe no one at all. Even if nothing happens between Inuoka and Hinata I think they would be good together. As friends or co-workers or something else.” It was awkward, talking about that kind of things because it was mostly just instinctual stuff for Sawamura. Most people believed it was Nishinoya and Hinata and those sorts who were impulsive and relied on their instincts, that Sawamura was too clear headed and stalwart to be instinctual. Those people would be mostly wrong. 

In a world of magic and monsters and demons and who knew what else, Sawamura cared very little for labels. Sawamura loved who he loved, cared about everyone no matter their gender or sex or if they were part giant or demon. Maybe Kageyama and Hinata would get together, maybe Hinata and Inuoka would, or perhaps all three would enter a relationship together. Or maybe they could all just be friends. Whatever it was, Sawamura believed they would be happier together. Both Hinata and Kageyama, but mostly Kageyama. 

“Kageyama had kind of a rough start of things.” Sawamura started after finishing his meat bun. “It’s hard to be a genius in a room full of normal people.” Sawamura grinned as Kuroo laughed at that. Sawamura fully believed it wouldn’t have gotten as bad as it did if Oikawa had stepped in. Oikawa wasn’t a genius, not the way Kageyama was, but he was still Kageyama’s superior and he had more skill and experience and could have helped Kageyama instead of letting jealousy and bitterness grow inside of him. 

“I have heard a couple things.” Kuroo said with a shrug, obviously not giving any weight to those rumors. That reaction made that warmth spread throughout Sawamura’s chest. 

“Kageyama doesn’t think of himself as a genius, he doesn’t understand why people can’t be as good as him as adept at magic as him. He thinks it’s because they are lazy, and for some people, it’s true. But he pushed his old team too far and too fast. He wanted them to be better and stronger than they were, grow faster and they didn’t appreciate that.” Kageyama hadn’t handled it well. Yelled and shouted, showed disgust and disdain instead of calmly assessing the situation but Kageyama didn’t really do calm. 

“They abandoned him.” Kuroo sounded angry about it. Despite Kageyama’s rough personality, Sawamura found it hard not to like him. He was so young most of the time, eager and willing and so damn appreciative to any bit of advice or attention him or Sugawara or Asahi gave him. Even Tanaka and Nishinoya had caught onto that, slapping his back and tackling him in hugs at the smallest accomplishments. Kageyama wanted to be apart of a strong team, he wanted to be recognized and have his team recognized alongside him but mostly he just wanted to belong.

“More like they drove him to the middle of nowhere and left him there.” Sawamura was still angry, still held bitterness deep in his heart for that. Kageyama didn’t react any sort of way when he saw his old team members, though they glared and spoke in barely-whispered words about him. “He was in rough shape when he came to Karasuno, got into a fight with Hinata on the first day. Hinata doesn’t get discouraged though, somehow wormed his way in without really doing anything different than how he usually acts. I think Hinata is Kageyama’s first real friend, and you know Hinata.” 

“There isn’t a single person I’ve met who isn’t Hinata’s friend.” Kuroo said with a smirk that held more than a little fondness. Clearly Hinata had gotten his claws into Kuroo too. 

“Right, but the friends Hinata makes turn into Kageyama’s. It’s hard not too, they are mostly always together.” Kageyama trailing along or Hinata pulling the taller man after him. 

“You think Inuoka will make a good friend for Kageyama? That’s your whole purpose?” Kuroo’s smirk was widening, the back of Sawamura’s neck was burning. 

“Inuoka doesn’t seem to mind rough personalities and he doesn’t look like he scares away easily.” He was also quick and powerful, so he could keep up with Kageyama in training. Kuroo pressed a hand against his mouth but it couldn’t muffle his laughter. “What?” 

“Dadchi.” Kuroo muttered, just loud enough for Sawamura to hear it. 

“Don’t.” Sawamura warned, not liking where this was heading at all. 

“You’re setting up playdates for your little scowly son.” Kuroo howled with laughter as Sawamura kicked at his chair. 

“I’m going to take a quick kip, when you’re done come wake me.” Sawamura got up, purposely leaving the mess for Kuroo to pick up because he was not fathering his team. 

“You gave Inuoka snacks to bring to your children so they wouldn’t get hungry.” Kuroo called after him, still cackling with glee. Sawamura walked faster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dadchi taking care of all his little birds.
> 
> Thank you **audriel** for editing this!!


	10. Sawamura Daichi and the Final Boss

Sawamura woke up in a cold sweat and a scream caught in his throat. The nightmares or memories stuck on his mind, clawing from the inside like some living thing fighting to get out. He was disorientated, which wasn’t something he was used to when waking up. Sawamura always woke up quickly and he slept very lightly but he was having a hard time remembering where he was or how he got there or what suddenly woke him up.

“It’s okay,” Kuroo’s voice was deep and soothing, a warm hand on his shoulder but he was keeping the rest of his body tucked away from Sawamura, not hovering over him or too near. Sawamura was thankful as he laid back down, chest heaving with great effort as he tried to to settle his heart down.

Sawamura was in his office, he remembered now. He went there to take a quick kip because he didn’t want to disturb those in the training room. A nightmare, that was all. Had he screamed? Was that why Kuroo had woken him?

“You didn’t make any noise.” Kuroo answered and Sawamura thought he had accidentally asked the question before he realized he hadn’t said anything. He looked over to Kuroo as the other man settled back against the end of the bookcase. The futon took up most of the room so he had little choice but to sit near Sawamura’s head. “It was- um- you know.” Kuroo pointed to his mind.

“I’m sorry.” Sawamura’s voice came out as a deep rasp. He wondered how much Kuroo had gotten. Images or voices? Descriptions? Sawamura hadn’t even remembered to rebuild the wall between his and Kuroo’s mind, had left a part open and had flooded Kuroo’s mind with a nightmare.

“It was mostly just emotions, it was-” Kuroo frowned slightly, looking away. “Strange. I couldn’t understand why it felt like I was suddenly having a panic attack, I thought- when we talked your voice in my head was clearly yours but your emotions felt like mine until I knew what to look for.” Sawamura, with effort, pulled himself back away from Kuroo’s mind. He didn’t rebuild the wall, too tired and shaky for that but he could at least give Kuroo space. “How do you control it?”

“I think it must have to do with having an empath on the team.” Sawamura said, feeling his body relax as they changed topics slightly. It was easier talking about his team than it was about the horrible things he had seen and heard and felt. “Ennoshita has a hard time being around the youngest members because they haven’t learned to control their emotions on a mental level yet. He’s better with Asahi, Suga, and me.” Ennoshita spent a lot of time around Datekou’s Futakuchi Kenji, said he was peaceful to be around. Sawamura had heard enough from Datekou’s leader, Moniwa, to think that Futakuchi was largely a problematic child but he would never deny Ennoshita the peace he craved so badly.

“Sorry if I-” Kuroo motioned again to his head. Sawamura shrugged it off, taking in a deep breath and trying to calm himself further.

“After all of this is over are you planning to go back to Nekoma?” Sawamura asked, changing the subject again because he realized just how little he actually knew about Kuroo. But also because Kuroo’s voice seemed to sooth something ragged inside of him.

“Yeah I am.” Kuroo stretched out his long legs as much as he could, which wasn’t much before they bumped into Sawamura’s desk. “Nekomata said he has a couple ideas to help me with it, and I’ll tell the people who actually matter what really happened.”

It was safe for Kuroo to be in Section Five. Each Section had their own building in separate parts of Tokyo but it was really only Section One who stayed in Tokyo, whose main job was to deal with the large city. Mostly the other teams in the four other sections dealt with the rest of the country, Section Five handled the south with the other three handled the west coast, north, and east coast.

Kuroo’s death would not have spread past Section One, as sad as that was, the turnover rate for agents was too quick for the other sections to pay much attention to a death not even in their area. He was relatively safe from questions as long as he remained in Section Five, especially since most of the other teams only stopped by the Agency building every other week or so to turn in their paperwork. It was actually quite odd for Sawamura to run into Oikawa so often, until he realized that the other team leader was attempting to court Sugawara.

Karasuno was such a new team that they were given a very small section of the southern part of the country that really didn’t have much trouble that would require the team to stay there for extended periods of time. Mostly it was just troublesome spirits or a lost magical creature that was causing havoc because it was frightened. Sawamura usually sent team ~~s~~ of two or three down to Torono Town, switching it up every week. Mostly their problems came from the west side in their section, given to them because no one else wanted it and requiring them to stay stationed on the outskirts of Tokyo.

“Like who?” Sawamura found himself asking, wondering who Kuroo had in his life besides his team.

“Bokuto for one.” Kuroo’s fingers tugged lightly at the edge of the futon, Sawamura could feel the vibrations from it but he didn’t tell Kuroo to stop. “My mum too.” Kuroo looked at Sawamura, catching the surprise on his face. “I told you I was born, my kind don’t just pop into existence Daichi.” He looked more amused than annoyed so Sawamura kept asking questions.

“Your kind? And is your mum a demon too?” Sawamura stretched, cringing when his knees popped.

“There are different kinds of demons, the ones that are usually summoned are Death demons or Destruction or sometimes Blood, nasty blights but the ones summoned don’t have a physical form.” Kuroo seemed more sure in himself, back on a topic he knew about. “Me, and Oikawa too I think, are Chaos demons but--stop with that look, it’s not as bad as it sounds. Though it is the reason why I’m called the Provocation Expert--and yes, I’ve heard people call me it. It’s the same reason why Oikawa lashes out at you when he’s upset, finds that soft spot or chink in your armor and digs and digs until-” Kuroo shrugged, looking uncomfortable again.

“And your mother?” Sawamura asked to get him to talk more.

“She’s a demon like me, as is my father.” Kuroo’s fingers moved onto Sawamura’s pillow, touching the soft cotton. “She’s been married five times, my dad managed to last the longest but he wasn’t what she wanted.”

“Do you still see your dad?” Sawamura asked, trying to wrap his mind around being married five times. “Do you have a lot of siblings?”

“My dad died when I was 17 but I saw him every weekend, he was a good person.” Kuroo said, leaning his head against the bookcase and looking up at the ceiling. “I don’t have any siblings. The third husband had two daughters from his previous marriage but they didn’t like me much. Before you ask, no, they weren’t all demons, only my dad and yeah, that was part of the reason it didn’t work out. Can’t have a real relationship with secrets like that hanging around. They tried, all of them and my mom tried too of course but things would go downhill and she’d know just what to say to make them angry, make them finally leave. She’s not a bad person, she’s a great mum. She taught me how to control my uh- more demonic urges.”

“You said your dad wasn’t what she was looking for?” Sawamura asked, feeling strangely relaxed despite the still lingering nightmares.

“My aunt, her sister, once told me that she had been in a relationship when she was a teenager but his family relocated to Italy and that hit her hard. He died there during a magic protest, trying to get more rights for those with so-called tainted blood, some kind of anti-magic zealot tossed a bomb at them. My aunt said she’s always been searching for what she had with him with others.” Kuroo’s fingers were idly stroking Sawamura’s hair, light-soft touches that made Sawamura’s eyes close in relaxation despite the conversation topic. “My kind, we kind of um- imprint on those we care about? I don’t know how to explain it, my mum calls it soul matching but I don’t really believe in soulmates. But sometimes we find someone and it’s like those urges- those not-quite-human instincts in the back of our minds quiets down a little. I think her highschool boyfriend was like that, he quieted her mind, made her feel at peace for the first time in her life.”

“After my grandfather died my grandmother wasn’t the same, it was like she gave up.” Sawamura admitted, a hurt for a hurt. “She died less than a year after.” Kuroo let out a sympathetic noise but it was an old wound, long since scarred over. “Tell me about Bokuto.”

“Everyone always wants to know about Bo.” Kuroo said in a teasing manner but he quickly went into stories involving Bokuto Koutarou. Stories the Agency didn’t publish in newspapers. Once where Bokuto broke into the swimming pool to put blue dye in it because the swim captain wouldn’t stop bothering Kuroo. Another where Bokuto was bet he wouldn’t go out in the snow naked to make a snowman, and he strutted out bareassed without a care in the world. “The fact that he wears clothes at all is a miracle.” Sawamura laughed and could hear the clear fondness in Kuroo’s tone. The absolute adoration and love towards an old friend.

Sawamura drifted off to sleep to the dulcet sounds of Kuroo’s voice and his long fingers stroking gently through his hair.

 

 

\---------

 

 

“Oh.” It was a soft exhale that woke Sawamura up from a thankfully dreamless sleep. There was something warm on his head and it only took him a moment to realize that he was sharing his pillow with Kuroo, whose body was still stuck between the bookcase, wall and desk but now he was slumped over, face near Sawamura’s.

“Suga, don’t.” Asahi pleaded but Sawamura was already sitting up, glaring at his two former best friends. Former because he was going to kill them.

“We didn’t mean to interupt anything.” Sugawara chirped innocently. Kuroo slept on and something warmed inside Sawamura at learning the other man was a heavy sleeper.

“You mean us sleeping? Yes, it’s very scandalous, you two are 12-year-old girls you know that right?” Sawamura pushed the blanket aside, putting on a grumpy air but he was feeling well rested and there was that surprising warmth inside his chest. “Are you going to start gossiping now?”

“Yes.” Sugawara answered honestly, grin still in place.

“Daichi there’s been some developments, we’re heading out.” Asahi interrupted before Sugawara and Sawamura could snipe at each other a bit more. It was nearly impossible to fight with Sugawara anyways so Sawamura let it drop.

“How much time?” Sawamura asked, reaching over to shake Kuroo lightly and repeat the news to the man.

“Forty five minutes.” Sugawara answered, phone in hand.

“Did you honestly take pictures?” Sawamura grumbled.

“Who? Me? Your very best friend in the entire world? I’m insulted by the mere insinuation.” Sugawara gasped out, taking another picture as Kuroo moved, shoving his face into Sawamura’s lower back with a disgruntled groan. Sawamura, for his part, managed to keep his scowl perfectly sculpted into his features even as his heart gave a soft flip.

“You’ve been spending too much time with that Oikawa kid, I don’t like it the effect he’s having on you.” Sawamura teased, scowl still in place. “I want to speak to his parents.” Sugawara looked shocked but Asahi laughed behind him. “Don’t think I don’t see you back there mister, we’ll have a talk later.”

“D-Daichi no.” Asahi whimpered but Sugawara was already pushing him out of the small office and closing the door behind him. Their teasing always doubled when they were about to do something serious, as if to overcompensate for the serious tone.

“Kuroo?” Sawamura asked but the man just groaned again, long arms wrapping around his waist as he rubbed his face against Sawamura’s back. Sawamura felt hot all over but that didn’t stop him from laughing. Heavy sleeper and slow to wake up, the opposite of Sawamura. “We have to get up now, it’s time.”

“Final battle?” Kuroo’s breath was warm against Sawamura’s skin where his shirt has ridden up.

“Final battle?” Sawamura asked, frowning before laughing again as he twisted his torso around, poking at Kuroo’s side. “Is that a game reference you nerd.” Kuroo squirmed away, sitting up and looking greatly affronted.

“You’re a nerd.” Kuroo grumbled back, eyes narrowed slightly before he reached out and touched Sawamura’s cheek. “Your smile is scary.”

“I’m going to end this today.” Sawamura promised, not even fighting the fact that his smile might be scary. He was going to stop his team from being hunted and scarred, in too much danger to even go back to their own homes.

Sawamura pushed himself to his feet, pulling Kuroo up with him who looked remarkably more awake as he studied Sawamura in an unnerving way. His eyes flickered, the pupil swallowing the iris for a moment before he stood back and nodded. Coming to a decision Sawamura wasn’t privy on.

“Alright?” Sawamura asked a little worriedly.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Kuroo and Sawamura put on their shoes before walking out of the office.

Getting ready in the locker room was a sober affair. Mostly everyone has already changed clothes, grabbed weapons and magic items, and were waiting in a huddle in the front entrance of the Agency building.

Tanaka was pulling on a pair of pewter-colored gloves that sparked when he closed and opened his fingers. Enchanted clothing was expensive and a lot of them were one-time-use only. Not the type of thing a regular agent could afford. Sawamura had never seen the gloves before but the hovering Yachi near Tanaka’s elbow was the clear answer to where they came from. She pointed to parts of the gloves, careful not to touch the surface of them. Tanaka was leaning forward, nose brushing against her temple in a move that seemed so private that Sawamura had to turn away.

Asahi was sitting on the bench, eyes closed and looking relatively relaxed which would be a surprise if Nishinoya wasn’t standing behind him, brushing the giant's hair and pulling it into a leather tie with small beads and feathers on the end. Nishinoya was mumbling under his breath, words of protection and safety and prayers of a guardian.

Ennoshita was sitting on a bench in the corner, eyes closed and head tilted back, meditating. Futakuchi was sitting next to him, a bored look painted on his features but his leg was pressed against Ennoshita, his body a little too protective of the other man.

There still seemed to be a weird tension between Narita and Kinoshita. Sawamura remembered belatedly that Narita’s new wife was pregnant, that she would be having their child any day now. Sawamura didn’t bother to try and give them a lecture or ask if everything was alright. They were partners and they wouldn’t let whatever problems they were having interfere with protecting each other.

Sugawara was having a quiet conversation with Kiyoko, their heads bowed close together. Oikawa was hovering nearby, pretending to check over his blade and re-tie his shoes for the second time since Sawamura had come in.

Sawamura laced up his boots and looked over to Kuroo curiously. He was methodically putting on his clothes, dressed similar to the rest of them. Tight shirts and loose pants that allowed maneuverability. Thick soled shoes. He was doing up a pair of leather bracers with runes carved into them and even though he seemed to have no problem tying them on his own, Sawamura stepped over to help. Kuroo offered his arm without resistance.

“There’s an old legend in the countryside where we are from.” Sawamura started to explain because he had seen the curious looks Kuroo had given around the room. “It is bad luck for a warrior to go into a battle without a favor from someone they care about. If you don’t have such an item it proves to the gods you are only fighting for yourself and no one else and the gods won’t lend you their aid because you fight selfishly, without honor.” The room was quiet, listening to Sawamura’s soothing tones as he did up the laces of Kuroo’s other bracer.

“Do you believe that?” Kuroo asked, flexing his wrists before pulling out two small daggers and sliding them into the bracers. In answer Sawamura turned back to his locker and pulled out an old medallion tied simply with a long stretch of thin leather. He turned back to Kuroo and looped the necklace over the taller man’s head, pressing the medallion against Kuroo’s sternum.

“This belonged to my father and my father’s father before him. I was told the magic in it was used up long ago but old things tend to surprise us.” Kuroo looked shocked so Sawamura tucked the necklace underneath Kuroo’s shirt where it wouldn’t get in the way.

“What do you have?” Kuroo asked, voice a little strained. There were various laughter, chuckles, and snorts from around the room. Kuroo raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“More like what isn’t a favor given to Daichi.” Sugawara answered because he was not wrong. His short swords, the holster that held them, the laces in his boots, the very tattoos on his skin, the buckle on his belt- all and many more favors from the people in his town or those on his team. “Yuuji also left this for you.” He handed over a plain wooden box to Sawamura, who opened it carefully and was not the least bit surprised at what was inside.

“There has to be at least a dozen cards in there.” Kuroo said in awe as he leaned forward to peer in the box. Magical tattoos were rare, Terushima was the only one who did them in their half of the hemisphere. Most people who bought spells from Ink casters had them do so on paper but they were expensive and most couldn’t afford even a single spell. Even the simplest ones took time and effort and put a strain on the Ink Caster. The ones in the box were on thick paper, that looked and felt old, the very paper embedded with magic. The spells written on them were not simple, but complex designs and curves. Sawamura was holding a small fortune in his hand.

“Yuuji was worried that you would use the rest of your tattoos and drain yourself again.” Sugawara said, a slight reprimand in his tone. The biggest thing with the cards was it took absolutely no magic to use them, all it took was an agreed upon power word that the Ink Caster wrote into the very design of the spell.

Sawamura didn’t say anything back, just pulled the cards out of the box and slipped them into the safety of his pocket. He’d use every single last card, the tattoos on his body, and every ounce of magic within his body to protect the people around him from those nightmare creatures. Sugawara knew this, feared it, but they had already had this argument, several times before and now was not the time to return to it. Sawamura would give anything for Sugawara except this.

“Everyone ready?” Sawamura called out and everyone moved together as one unit.

Sawamura took stock of everyone in the entrance room of the building. The entirety of Karasuno was there of course. From Nekoma there was Kuroo, Yaku, Kozume, Inuoka, and Lev. Aoba Johsai contained Oikawa, Iwaizumi, and Matsukawa. Datekou had provided Moniwa, Kamasaki, Futakuchi, and Aone. Shiratorizawa had even come through with Ushijima, Semi, Yamagata, Goshiki, and Shirabu.

“Pay attention!” Director Ukai shouted, brows permanently furrowed angrily on his craggy face. “You are about to enter an unknown situation. You should be prepared to face at least 19 creatures that were the former members of Karasuno. Most likely you will also be facing an unknown number of dark creatures and demons. Separate yourselves into your teams, have each other’s backs and don’t get in each other's way.” He looked over at Director Nekomata.

“You are the best each of your teams have, so fight like it and do not let yourselves panic and make rash decisions. Trust your teammates and fight smart.” Director Nekomata said before Ukai stepped forward to explain as much as they knew without giving too much information at once.

They were headed to the warehouse section of the west side. It was unknown territory to everyone besides Karasuno, who had travelled all over the west side thanks to Sawamura constant drills.

They split up into their teams and headed out to the vans that would take them near the area. The air was tense and Sawamura made sure to sit himself near Hinata, but his junior for once didn’t look panicked or wide eyed. He was intensely focused, fingers running over prayer beads Sawamura had definitely seen Aone handle before.

“Kageyama.” Sawamura said softly, catching the younger mans eye before looking to Hinata, too lost in his own thoughts to notice. Kageyama stared at the side of Hinata’s face before he sat up straighter and nodded towards Sawamura.

“Hey dumbass, you’re not going to throw up are you? I won’t take it as well as Tanaka did.” Kageyama grumbled out. There was a long pause before the tension in the air broke, various shouts and laughter rang out in the van.

“I’m a good superior.” Tanaka joked from the front.

“The best!” Nishinoya agreed quickly.

“Kageyama,” Hinata said, voice lower than normal and it cut through the laughter, drawing everyone to a sudden silence again. Hinata put the prayer beads around his neck, eyes still focused. “If I vomit, I’m aiming it at you.” Another pause.

“Disgusting!” “That’s my junior!” “Please stop high fiving you two.”

Sawamura settled back in his seat, quickly catching the eyes of Sugawara and Asahi. Sawamura wasn’t sure how they had gotten to this point, from scraggly teenagers to going off to battle like warriors in the old stories his grandfather used to tell him. Sawamura had always wanted to be an agent, it was the only thing he had ever thought of as a kid. Sugawara wanted to help people and had followed Sawamura to the Agency because it had seemed like a good way to help. Asahi had been pressured into joining the Agency by his family, the youngest of six boys his job was to make sure he didn’t shame the family name.

They didn’t have to follow him here, to Karasuno. As a healer Sugawara could have gone anywhere. Despite his shy demeanor, Asahi was still part giant, strong and obedient and he healed quickly. He also could have had his pick of teams, not disgraced and outcast one ~~s~~ like Karasuno. They had followed Sawamura though. They all had pulled the old team out of the ashes, gave it a solid base so their juniors could shine. They had become more than a team, ousted and abandoned by the rest of the Agency, they had become close.

Sawamura had no intentions of dying. Kuroo was still bound to him and he had to find a way to break the contract without hurting Kuroo in the process. Then he was going to ask Kuroo out, maybe even cook for the other man. He had to make sure Hinata got proper training to learn to control his explosive power. He needed to see that Asahi didn’t try and find another reason to not pursue Nishinoya. He needed to go to his grandparents' shrine and make sure the spirits there hadn’t gotten lonely or caused too much trouble.

Sawamura wasn’t about to throw his life away but for this team, for the people inside that van he would give everything inside of him, everything he had to protect them.

 

 

\---------

 

 

 

“Daichi.” Sawamura stopped walking, letting his team flow past him as he turned towards Kuroo. He was fiddling with something in his hand. “I don’t have much of anything to give as a favor, but I do have this. It doesn’t have any long history like what you gave me, I just found it on the day we met while walking to the train.” It was a thick metal coin with a crow carved into one side and ancient kanji on the other. Sawamura couldn’t help himself from smiling as he saw it.

“You don’t know what this is, do you?” Sawamura grinned up at him, seeing the confusion in Kuroo’s eyes. “It’s an Ossa coin. People used to carry them around with them. It’s said that if you give it to Death when he comes to meet you he’ll give you extra time on earth.” Kuroo’s smile was wide and pure as he bent his head to laugh. Sawamura studied the sharp edge of his jaw, the soft curve of his cheeks, the slant of his eyebrows.

“After this Daichi-” Kuroo stepped closer and to anyone looking over it just looked like two team leaders discussing plans. Sawamura was forced to look up at him, even though Kuroo was leaning over, eyes serious and mouth smiling.

“After this.” Sawamura nodded, a promise. It would probably be a long time until they could actually do anything together, even after this current situation was handled. Kuroo would have a difficult time coming back from the dead, despite his reassurances that everything was handled. There were superiors who ran the entire Agency who would question Nekomata, would question how a supposeddly-human man could come back from the dead. Kuroo might be exposed as a demon and he’d have to fight for everything after that. Sawamura would offer any support he could, even if his name meant nothing to the Agency.

They walked side-by-side down the street to the warehouse district, as abandoned as the rest of the west side. It was dark and oppressive, not the type of place anyone wanted to be with the sun setting. Yet with Karasuno in front of them and Nekoma to the back, Sawamura had no qualms walking down the street.

A block away they all stopped. Sawamura moved amongst his team, pulling the attention of the youngest members of his team but speaking loud enough for them all to hear.

“Despite what you might have seen in movies or read in books, fights go by very quickly.” Minutes at most. “Everything is bound to happen at one moment, keep your mind clear and your eyes open. Trust your partner to have your back and have your partner's back. Do not go rushing into things head first, you’re likely to get someone else killed trying to protect you.” He met each of their eyes and got a solemn nod in return. There was no more time to better prepare them. They looked so young that Sawamura felt his throat tighten up.

At 20 he had been fresh out of the Academy, assigned to Izumitate, a junior team that worked as some sort of a transitional stage between the Academy and a Section Team. He hadn’t even seen a real battle until he was 25. He had learned so much in those five years, things that had saved his life. His juniors were barely out of the Academy, too young and perhaps too inexperienced.

“If you feel yourself weakening, fall back behind Daichi or Noya. If you’re injured and you're able, come to me.” Sugawara took over, voice strong and steady, fingers pressing into Sawamura’s shoulder in a show of support.

“You’ve trained for this, but there will be other teams out there.” Asahi said, voice soft but no less strong for it. “Don’t do any big magic if you can help it, don’t dodge into the archers way.” There was no joking or jostling, no more questions if Hinata had to use the bathroom before they went, no snide comments or elbows in ribs.

“I’ll go in first with Noya taking up the rear.” Sawamura directed, getting a solid nod from Noya who was no longer shifting with untold energy from foot to foot like usual. He was solid and completely still, eyes glowing as he pulled on his powers as a Guardian. Sawamura could see the effect it had, shoulders losing a small bit of tension as their Guardian Deity had their backs. “I want the distance fighters to remain in the middle of us at all times. Everyone else I want you to keep me in sight at all times. If you can’t see me that means I can’t see you and I can’t defend you as you fight.” Sawamura looked at the other teams, noting that they all seemed ready. He resisted the urge to go into further details, further commands because they knew what to do. Tanaka would stay near Nishinoya in the back, Asahi would stay close to Hinata and Kageyama while Sugawara looked after Yamaguchi. Ennoshita would keep closer guard over the ranged fighters: Kinoshita, Narita, and Tsukishima. Sawamura would defend the main bulk of his team behind him while tossing up wards and barriers when needed to assist the close-ranged fighters.

Everyone started moving as one.

Before they had even reached the warehouse they were set upon. Demons crawled out of shadows while creatures flew off the top of buildings, bombarding them. The first wave.

Sawamura threw up a barrier that pushed their opponents backwards when they attacked it, knocking them down and away a few good yards. The archers were unleashing arrows and bolts towards the flying creatures. One crashed near him, screeching with an arrow in its eye.

“Gargoyles. Intense heat will stop them.” Tsukishima called out as Sawamura pulled out one of his short swords, his unused hand tossing up another barrier as the gargoyles came in for a second attack. Sawamura touched a ruin on the sword, waiting as the blade turned red with heat before he cut off the head of the creature amongst them.

“Hinata!” Kageyama called, runes placed in the air as Hinata slammed his hands into them, causing a too-bright shine of light that ate up the demons and the shadows they had come from.

“Sawamura, gargoyles are European creatures that are peaceful until what they are protecting is threatened.” Tsukishima spoke quietly, calm as ever and seemingly unaffected by the battle that had just ended. It had taken a minute at most. “They are stone constructs.” Tsukishima knowing about constructs of another region wasn’t even surprising to Sawamura.

In the big meeting with all the team leaders they had theorized that whatever gifts or powers the former Karasuno members had, the creatures inside of them could make use of them. It made sense as to why they could control other demons and creatures. Most likely one of the former members had been a European descendant, it wasn’t uncommon. Sugawara had French blood, Kinoshita’s grandfather was from Taiwan. It wasn’t a traditional Japanese talent to turn inanimate things to something living, though not-quite-alive. It made things more difficult, most wouldn’t have the knowledge that Tsukishima did.

“If you see something like that again, shout it out.” Sawamura ordered and Tsukishima nodded, sliding back towards the other archers.

The whole battle had taken maybe two minutes in total, the aftermath another minute or so to make sure everyone was alright before they were moving again.

“That one.” Ennoshita was pointing to a building but even without his abilities Sawamura knew that was where they needed to go. There was an oppressive feeling in the air, death seemed to run icy fingers down their backs and grip their hearts. Many had died here, more would follow.

“No you fucking don’t.” Nishinoya growled from the back, his magic pressing forward and Sawamura felt like he could breath properly again.

“Yamaguchi-” Sawamura started to ask because the young man was a low-level priest who could cleanse the area but Semi from Shiratorizawa stepped forward, hands raised at chest height palms up. There was a glow about him, a soft pulsing one as he sang underneath his breath before he pushed his hands outwards.

Nothing dramatic happened, it didn’t get less dark or gloomy but everyone’s shoulders relaxed a little, color returned to pale faces. Dark, evil places had a way of dragging people underneath a wave of hopelessness and depression but that had felt a little too pointed to be just that alone.

“If you start to feel unnaturally unresponsive or repressed, move towards Yamaguchi or Sugawara.” That type of ability came from a rare empath, pushing feelings into others heads. Sawamura had seen Ennoshita place a calming hand on Nishinoya or Tanaka’s shoulder before, watched as they accepted the peace that the other radiated, but Ennoshita never pushed unwanted emotions into other people.

They started to move again. Sawamura slid his blade back into the sheath on his back, opting to slide one of the cards out of his pocket instead. The younger Ukai had told him once that intent with magic was almost as powerful as remembering the moves or words to summon it. Sugawara was a good healer not just because he studied for years and practiced hours a day but because he wanted to help people, to make sure they weren’t in discomfort or pain. Intent counted. Sawamura could feel Terushima through the cards, as if the other man held a comforting hand between his shoulder blades. Terushima had made those cards, probably had been stockpiling them for months or perhaps years, to assist and protect Sawamura. His fingers felt warmed by the card he held between them, comforted and knowledgable about what the card was for.

There was a barrier around the warehouse. Thick and smoky. It looked like black fog, something you could walk through without harm.

Sawamura stepped forward, waving to the other teams that he would handle it. Kuroo tilted his head but didn’t stop him.

All of the magic cards he knew of were used by a power word, but Terushima had never been a typical Ink Caster. Sawamura pushed a small amount of magic into his fingertips, felt the card warm even further. Power words could be used by anyone, but these cards could only be used by Sawamura.

Sawamura flicked the card towards the fog, watching as it sailed through the air and stopped suddenly, stuck in the black swirling fog that tore around the card like a living thing. Living barriers were a dark thing, mostly cast through death and blood to make it living in the first place. They were supremely difficult to break because they moved and attacked on their own.

The card shook and the carefully constructed ink on it flooded the surface. The barrier attempted to pull back away from it but it was too late, the card began pulling the living fog into it. Sawamura stepped back carefully, moving back towards the relative safety of his team. His eyes sought Kuroo, the other man looked absolutely thrilled at the demonstration.

Final boss battle. And faint humming Sawamura knew that must be from some video game or another, ringing in his mind. He bit back a smile, shaking his head minutely at the other man. How impossible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daichi just wants to cook a meal for Kuroo, let the man live in peace!
> 
> Big thanks to **audriel** for editing this chapter!


	11. Sawamura Daichi and the Cursed Wings

The fight was in full swing the moment they entered the warehouse. Tsukishima called out different weaknesses. Kageyama set up power runes specifically designed to enhance Asahi and Hinata’s powers. Nishinoya guarded their backs, didn’t allow anything to get close to the archers while Tanaka plowed his way through anything that managed to get close to Nishinoya. Sawamura threw up barriers and wards, protecting those around him.

To their left was Shiratorizawa. They were more individualistic in their approach, though they worked cohesively as a team, never getting in each other's way but they relied mostly on themselves for attack and defense. Ushijima was a power unto himself, strong and focused and not showing any signs of slowing down. Sawamura didn’t let himself watch them fight, though he was curious and he had never been in a position to actually see them fight. Even their training was highly secretive.

Next to Shiratorizawa was Datekou, though Sawamura didn’t have a clear line of sight of them he could feel the faint tremble of the warehouse from their powerful defense. They seemed to have no problem holding off the attack, which wasn’t really surprising coming from a team composed of mostly those with giant-blood running through their system.

Sawamura pressed power into a rune in the air, pushing it over to Asahi whose back was torn open by claw marks. The wounds are pussing and angry, Sawamura would be more worried if it was anyone else but Asahi who always erred on the side of caution. If he was truly wounded or it was as serious as it looked, Asahi would fall back to Sugawara for assistance but it seemed more of an irritant than anything to the gentle giant. The rune hovering over his shoulder ignited as the same creature who scratched him comes in for another attack, a delayed ward that Sawamura had set blocks the attack and sent the creature spiraling towards the ground.

To the right of Karasuno was Nekoma, closer than any of the other teams but still within their own space. Their attacks almost seemed slow and lazy, but it reminded Sawamura sharply of a pacing cat, waiting for the right moment to strike at a prey. Kuroo was in the middle, smirk firmly in place as his hand came out, easily deflecting an attack and sending it rippling back towards the caster. He was quick and sure footed but each attack aimed towards the team made Sawamura’s stomach drop. Rebound magic was tricky because it only lasted a moment, unlike the wards or barriers Sawamura used. A caster had to toss them up right at the moment of impact otherwise they were useless. Kuroo did it with ease gained from years of practice but it made Sawamura tense.

Next to Nekoma is Aoba Johsai with Oikawa at the helm of their attacks. With no juniors to direct or protect Oikawa was using his full power on attacking. It was nearly frightening the power he put ~~s~~ into each of attack, and Sawamura winced as some of them went wayward. It was like Hinata attacking, too much power was hard to control though Oikawa obviously had a higher success rate than Hinata. Hanamaki and Iwaizumi were on the offensive, Hanamaki slower and more thoughtful with his attacks, Iwaizumi with concentrated power that Sawamura wouldn’t want to try and block. Matsukawa was left defending them, his half-lidded eyes and loose shoulders covering up how focused he was on protecting the other three men.

The tattoo across Sawamura’s back ached as he poured more power into it. He had talked about it with the leaders, a backup plan incase their fight started going nowhere like it currently was. Too many other demons and creatures and constructs for them to get a good read on where the ancient creatures were, except when they slid out of shadows and nooks to attack before sliding away again.

The battle has already been going on for five minutes, Sawamura could feel something else humming just beneath his feet. Another attack, another wave that would take all their focus and attention to fight off while the ancient creatures slid in and out of their defense like ghosts, picking off those who strayed too far, who were too weakened to defend themselves properly.

Sawamura twisted his wrist, an orange of magic going off above their heads. Something has happened with Shiratorizawa though Sawamura couldn’t spare the concentration to look over as everyone started pushing forward, knocking the ancient creatures back to the middle of the warehouse. The tattoo across Sawamura’s back twitched like a living thing, pressing and pulling against the skin.

Five years he had that magical tattoo, it had started off as a protection against the curse between his shoulder blades. Sawamura had no idea what removing it would do, how much it would cost him but he had already started the process and this was their last chance. The ground shook, cracks and fissures forming and Sawamura could see from the corner of his eye a big gaping hole appear between Aoba Johsai and Nekoma.

There was a scream, anguish and pain but Sawamura couldn’t lose focus now. He gave one final push before releasing the spell on his back, giving it an enemy to focus on. It was the most powerful barrier Sawamura had ever made, gained from five years of magic and pain. It stretched and spread ~~s~~ around the large warehouse before closing in towards the middle, capturing 19 ancient creatures in the middle and locking into place.

Sawamura felt his knees weaken but there was something crawling and pulling its way out of the opened fissures in the floor. There were still demons and dark creatures swarming the warehouse even though he could feel the pull of death around him. His curse pressed down against him after five years of being suppressed. Sawamura didn’t know about other death magic users but ever since he used death magic he could feel the newly dead around him, the presence of magic released after death in the air. Forbidden and dark, his curse consumed it. Made Sawamura’s skin itch and burn but he pushed those feelings aside.

“Daichi they are Blighted.” Sugawara said, horrified at the people crawling out of the holes in the ground. Parts of their skin were slipping off the muscle, black burn marks crawling and consuming their skin, missing limbs or eyes or ears, covered in boils with blood dripping out of every orifice. Blighted were as close to zombies as the world had. The living dead, concerned with only spreading the blight further. They weren’t dead, not really. Their hearts still beat, their blood still ran but there was nothing human inside them.

“Don’t let them touch you!” Sawamura yelled out a warning because they weren’t common in Asia. Mostly North and South America and it spread like an infectious disease. No scratches or bites necessary, just one touch would do the trick. “Pull closer!” The curse itched intensely, sensing more death to come.

Asahi pulled Hinata and Kageyama to the middle of the group, Tanaka jumped back out of reach. Sawamura and Nishinoya worked together to put up a solid barrier around the group as the blighted crawled and ambled out towards them. Various demons and dark creatures used the distraction to attack.

“Suga.” Sawamura stared at Sugawara, noting his wide eyes and pale face but there was no help for it. The Blighted wouldn’t stop with arrows and they couldn’t leave the barrier to defend against the other demons and creatures when one touch was enough to lead to certain death.

“I-” Sugawara paused, looked around and then stood up straighter, nodding his head firmly though he looks sick.

Healers and med mages weren’t just rare because it took years of study and a particular type of magic, though those did play into it. They also had to go through rigorous psychological counseling because once a person learned the inner and outer workings of the human anatomy, they could do a lot of purposeful damage. Causing an aneurysm or starting a heart attack was relatively easy for a trained med mage.

The Blighted might be half-alive but they were still human. Sawamura wouldn’t ask if they weren’t being attacked from all sides, if there weren’t still ancient creatures held at bay by a barrier that Sawamura wasn’t even sure for how long it could hold them, no matter how powerful it was.

Sugawara closed his eyes, fingers twitching as he turned to the right. Three Blighted were pressing against the barrier and Sawamura watched as the go down one by one. There was no dramatic effects, no gushing blood or exploding body parts, they simply just dropped. There was strain on Sugawara’s face, tension in his body but Sawamura knew it had more to do with what he was doing than the magic he was using. Sugawara learned healing magic to help, not do harm but there was no known cure for the Blighted.

Sugawara continued to take out each of the Blighted around them. The other teams had found ways to dispose of them also. It took about a full minute to be rid of them and Sawamura felt the crawl of death magic across his back, his curse pulling in each to himself. He felt sick with it but there was no time to deal with it right there.

Dealing with the remaining demons and creatures after that was relatively easy when more opponents weren’t popping up every second.

The sudden silence was almost deafening.

 

The entire fight lasted maybe five minutes. Too quick to take in many details though at the time it seemed to drag by slowly, each second feeling like an hour. Sawamura still had his guard up, sending a couple floating runes just in case there was anything hidden and waiting to attack but he had to check on his team now.

Asahi was sitting on some rubble, breath coming fast and sharp and his eyes concentrated on the dark hole ripped into the ground as if waiting for something else to come out. He was not wrong to watch and it allowed Sawamura to circle around him, placing a warm hand on his uninjured shoulder to take a closer look at the wound across his back.

“It’s fine, most of the venom is out of my system, burns a little.” Asahi’s voice was lower than normal, a deep rumble in his chest. Sawamura still lifted the shirt, ignoring the puss to see that the blood being pumped out looks less black and Asahi was probably right. It was good to be part giant Sawamura supposedd, venom and poisons didn’t really work too well on them.

Hinata and Kageyama were near each other, bent over with their heads up, breathing hard but still looking for more enemies to fight. The left side of Hinata’s face was going to turn into a rather nasty bruise, his cheek might even be broken but the rest of him looks fine. Kageyama was sweating and pale, pure stubbornness and an unwillingness to look weaker than Hinata was the only thing keeping him on his feet. Magic exhausted but he’d be fine too.

“Koushi!” It was Oikawa’s desperate voice that rang out in the sudden silence. Sugawara stood up shakily from where Narita was hugging a body close to him, sobbing into the light brown hair. Sawamura had been trying to ignore the pull of death behind him, knowing that he was too late to save one of his own. “Koushi!” Sugawara was reluctant to leave his team, it was in every line of his body so Sawamura made his way over and gripped Sugawara’s shoulder, leading him over to Aoba Johsai past Nekoma where there was another tug of death against his back. Nekoma was grieving and Sawamura forced his eyes forward, to someone Sugawara could actually help.

Iwaizumi was on the ground and Sawamura’s stomach clenched painfully tight. He was still alive, though he was gasping for breath, his exhales coming out too quick and shaky to be anything but a sign of agony. He was pale, his face devoid of all color and sweat was pouring down his face. His head was resting on Hanamaki’s bent legs, the light brown-pink haired man was leaning down, forehead pressed against Iwaizumi’s and tears running down his pale cheeks. Matsukawa was on Iwaizumi’s far side, fingers curled around Iwaizumi’s hand and lips pressed against his knuckles though his heavy-lidded eyes were constantly darting around, looking for any sign of trouble.

Sugawara dropped to the ground and Sawamura could see the problem instantly. Iwaizumi’s right arm was black from his elbow to halfway up his bicep. The black looked like a horrible burn, the dry and dead skin flaking away only to reveal muscle and blood turned black too. The worst part was that the wound was moving, spreading up and down Iwaizumi’s arm.

“Don’t touch it.” Sugawara ordered, smacking away Oikawa’s outstretched hand, as if the other man was about to grab Iwaizumi’s free hand. Sugawara pulled a pair of dark green gloves out of his pocket, they smelled of herbs and it almost covered up the scent of decaying flesh. Sawamura tried to tell himself it was from the Blighted and not from Iwaizumi’s infected arm.

“What is it?” Matsukawa asked as Sugawara pulled on the gloves that would allow him to examine the wound without being infected himself. Matsukawa looked deceptively calm, almost lethargic but there was a tenseness to his shoulders, a hitch in his breath that belied the calm.

Iwaizumi let out a half-choked off whimper as Sugawara moved the arm, making soothing noises even as he examined it closer. Hanamaki pressed his lips against Iwaizumi’s forehead, again and again until Iwaizumi unclenched his eyes and looked up at him. Matsukawa ran his hand up and down Iwaizumi’s uninjured arm, slow and comforting.

It was only a small surprise to Sawamura, really. Iwaizumi being in a relationship with Hanamaki and Matsukawa that was. Iwaizumi and Sawamura went out and got food and a drink when they could, which wasn’t really often. The last time was nearly two months prior, and Iwaizumi had mentioned he had started to seeing two people. He had been slightly worried because they were in a pre-established relationship for many years but the tips of his ears had turned pink and Sawamura could see the happy twist on his usually scowling face.

“Daichi, your sword, can it heat up again?” Sugawara asked and everyone around him tensed. Sawamura pulled out the blade, it would need to be seen by a metalsmith but it would stand up to another round of intense heat.

“You can’t cut- you can’t do that!” Oikawa shouted, fingers wrapped tightly around Iwaizumi’s ankles.

“Do you know what this is?” Sugawara asked but continued on without waiting for an explanation. “To stop the spread of the infection I would need the bladder of a frog that exists only in the deepest parts of the Amazon rain forest. I don’t have that, Watari doesn’t either. Kiyoko might but it’s more than likely that it’s back in Miyagi and Hajime doesn’t have that kind of time. If the infection gets into his bloodstream it will kill him, very slowly and very painfully from the inside out.” Everyone was silent, Oikawa’s eyes wide and horrified.

“Do it.” Iwaizumi gasped out. “Cut the fucking thing off.”

“Hold him down.” Sugawara ordered. Hanamaki pressed down on his shoulders, Matsukawa laid across his chest, careful not to go near his right arm, Oikawa hesitated.

“Fucking grab my legs Tooru!” Iwaizumi kicked weakly at his oldest friend. Oikawa did as he was told, clenching his eyes tight while he did so.

“Cut right across here Daichi.” Sugawara motioned, several centimeters above the infected skin. Sugawara grasped Iwaizumi’s wrist, pinning it down as Sawamura traced the rune for ‘heat’ on the sword. “Okay Hajime, I’m going to break the bone so the sword doesn’t get stuck. Deep breath in, and out-” A sickening crack, a bit off scream, and Sawamura swung the sword, chopping clear through skin and muscle.

Iwaizumi tried to twist away, pressing his face up into Hanamaki’s stomach and screaming. Sugawara tossed the arm to the side, pulling off the gloves and tossing them over too before nodding at Sawamura towards it. Sawamura created three runes around the discarded items, trying not to think of what they were too much before he pressed his power against them, watching as fire consumed everything within the triangle of the runes.

“Makki, Makki look at me, I’m okay, it’s okay love, I’m fine.” Iwaizumi was mumbling to Hanamaki as the other man folded himself around his head, body shaking with unheard sobs.

“Is it in his blood?” Matsukawa asked, face a shade paler than before.

“No, no it’s clear but we need to get him back to the Agency before he goes into shock.” Sugawara said as he made quick work of wrapping up the stump. The superheated blade had stopped the bleeding but it was only a temporary measure.

“I can get one of those clay limbs that are so popular in Europe, Makki.” Iwaizumi’s voice was a harsh whisper, still trying to bring comfort to someone he loved despite how much pain he must be in. “I’ll be twice as strong…”

“Imagine how hard he will be able to hit Oikawa, eh Makki?” Matsukawa asked, reaching over with the hand not clenching Iwaizumi’s to run his palm over Hanamaki’s shoulders. Oikawa’s face was still pressed against Iwaizumi’s legs.

“Oi, rude Mattsun.” Oikawa said but his heart clearly wasn’t in it.

Sawamura gripped Sugawara’s shoulder before making his way back over to his team. His eyes lingered on Nekoma, crowded around a body with long legs and feet covered in white converse. Inuoka, Sawamura didn’t even know his given name, just the fact that he had a crush on Hinata and was so unbearably young.

Kuroo’s pain was a constant wave crashing against the barrier in Sawamura’s mind. The curse pressed and itched between his shoulder blades as he passed by Nekoma, walking a little faster because of it.

Sawamura’s own team had fallen under a thick wave of grief themselves. Kinoshita Hisashi was still held in Narita’s shaking arms, his face pressed against Kinoshita’s light spiky hair. Even from where Sawamura stood he could see the odd press of the bones of Kinoshita’s neck pressing against skin. Nishinoya and Tanaka were kneeling on either side of Narita, tears streaming down their devastated faces. Sawamura could tell just by looking at them that they believed it was their fault for their teammate’s death. If Nishinoya had guarded them better or if Tanaka had taken out the creature before it reached Kinoshita. No one else blamed them but this would lay heavily on their shoulders for years to come.

Ennoshita was a little ways away from the group, still within close distance but he was kneeling in the rubble, hands pressed against his temples as he dealt with other people's grief and hurt on top of his own. Asahi had stationed himself in the middle, his face stubbornly set but there were tears in his eyes. He was protecting the team so they could grieve in peace. Kageyama and Hinata were off to the side, looking devastated and confused and exhausted.

“Let me see.” Sawamura ordered as he walked over to Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. The freckled man had been quietly asking to see Tsukishima’s hand, the blonde one stubbornly refusing.

“It’s just a couple broken fingers.” Tsukishima said dismissively but something in Sawamura’s face or behavior had him giving in quickly and holding out his dominant hand. His pinky and ring finger were bent awkwardly, the skin between his ring finger and middle was torn and bleeding freely. The line of blood dripping down to his elbow meant Tsukishima had been injured for a while, ignored the pain to continue fighting. It was a surprise to Sawamura, for when Tsukishima had first joined the team he had said how pointless it was to fight until the point of exhaustion like Kageyama and Hinata did.

“This will help with the pain but it won’t actually fix anything.” Sawamura pulled out a long white cloth, white magic tingled against his fingers as he wrapped it around Tsukishima’s fingers. The tall man relaxed slightly and pressed his injured hand against his chest, giving a sharp nod to Sawamura.

The press of death was nearly unbearable so Sawamura looked over to Shiratorizawa.

“I think it was their guardian, he was protecting them from the Blighted when something dropped from the ceiling and pulled him up.” Tsukishima said quietly, no one would be able to hear unless they were right next to him. It must be Yamagata then, though it was hard to tell since he seemed to be in- Sawamura felt his throat tighten -several pieces.

“It was my fault, it was my fault- I- he was protect-” Goshiki was rambling, on bent knees and curling around himself. Sawamura did know that Yamagata had a soft spot for the young man with the bowl cut. His sentences started and stuttered to a stop, broken and crushed by guilt and grief. Sawamura wanted to step over and comfort him but knew he wouldn’t be welcomed. Ushijima stood apart from the group, tall and imposing.

Next to them was Datekou. The pull of death was prevalent there too. It took Sawamura a moment to realize who exactly had died. His shoulders stooped low when he recognizee Moniwa Kaname on the ground, only noticeable because of how small he appeared next to his team members. Made even smaller by death. Timid and easily embarrassed Moniwa, who had confided in Sawamura he had no idea why he was picked to be made a leader of a team full of giants. His confidence in his team was never ending, but he had no confidence in himself or his abilities. He never seemed to realize how much his team admired and looked up to him, how despite their troubles they did listen to him, took his advice to heart.

Sawamura went to turn his attention back to his own team before his eyes caught on Ushijima again, staring up at the barrier. Sawamura looked too and his heart stuttered in his chest as he noticed a lone figure clothed completely in black standing at the edge of the barrier. Sawamura couldn’t see its face but he knew it was looking directly at him.

It pointed over Datekou, holding up one finger. It pointed at Shiratorizawa, put up a second finger. It pointed directly at Karasuno, Sawamura stiffened as it held up a third finger. A point towards Nekoma, a fourth finger.

One person dead from each team, Iwaizumi was clearly meant to be the fifth person killed in the fifth team. If the fight hadn’t ended when it did, if Sugawara hadn’t been there and known what to do then he would be dead.

Ushijima’s eyes were on the side of Sawamura’s face, hard and furious because he had obviously understood the meaning of the slow counting. They had been playing with them. Taking out one member from each team one at a time as if they didn’t care about the outcome of this battle at all. As if they could have demolished them each team easily and without much effort put forth.

“How long will that barrier last Sawamura?” Ushijima asked, moving to stand closer to Sawamura so they could talk without yelling over at one another. Sawamura looked at the taller man. He had believed Ushijima had been unaffected by the death of a member of his team, not touched by the grief and pain around him but looking at him closer Sawamura could see that was not the cause. Ushijima looked furious from afar and up close he looked ravaged.

“I don’t know, we could reinforce it but eventually they’ll find a way out or the barrier will fail.” Five or fifty years down the road, it mattered very little to those creatures Sawamura knew that much. They needed a way to completely eviscerate them.

The curse pushed against Sawamura’s spine. A cold sweat broke out on his skin.

“Sawamura.” Ennoshita sounded wrecked. “I-I can feel them, they are stuck in a living hell.” The former Karasuno members, trapped within their own decimated bodies. Forced to watch and participate in horrible acts. Sawamura had guessed that but he had wanted to be wrong.

“We need to get our wounded and-” Sawamura looked up, felt his eyes burn but he fought the tears down. “Dead away from here.” Ushijima nodded, eyes sliding back to his team where Semi of all people was attempting to comfort and quiet Goshiki.

Sawamura forced Ennoshita to sit down, felt guilty that he was glad that the other man was so completely overwhelmed by everyone else's emotions that he couldn’t feel Sawamura’s. Sawamura leaned lightly against Asahi, allowing himself this simple comfort for just one moment as his mind ran through other possibilities.

“I’m going to check to see if the barrier will hold steady.” Sawamura said, voice rough and low but Asahi nodded, his eyes caught on Nishinoya. Sawamura wanted to tell him to go over to the younger man, to comfort him like Asahi so obviously wanted but he kept his mouth shut because it would be an odd thing to say at that moment, a telling thing that would draw unwanted attention to himself.

Sawamura walked with heavy footsteps towards the barrier. It was strong and thick and nearly unbreakable but the creatures caught inside didn’t look distraught or worried in the least. The creature dressed in black moved to stand in front of him, walking with him as Sawamura paced around the barrier, looking for weak spots.

Sawamura stopped and even though he couldn’t see the creatures face he could feel it smiling at him. It reached forward, pressing a hand against the barrier that held for a moment before the barrier pressed outwards, like melted plastic around the hand before it pulled back.

A demonstration. A warning. It was still playing with Sawamura, telling him the barrier was only a minor step back for them, easily rectified. Sawamura felt resigned, a heavy feeling covering him and the curse on his back took the opportunity to become more active because Sawamura was no longer fighting so hard against it. He soaked up the death in the warehouse, felt it weigh heavily on him, tainted his soul and spirit.

Sawamura faced forward because if he looked back and saw his team he might back out. He might try and reconsider other options but he knew there was none. These creatures had been around for centuries and the strongest barrier he had ever made, the one with years of magic poured into it was nothing but a minor inconvenience to them.

They wanted Sawamura broken, so he would break for them.

Sawamura pulled down the barrier in his own mind, a ward against Kuroo though the other man- the demon had already crawled beneath his skin, embedded himself right into the very heart of Sawamura. Kuroo didn’t notice, too caught up in his own grief to be able to tell the difference between his own emotions and Sawamura’s. Sawamura felt a sense of guilt and shame because he knew in a moment he would be adding to that grief.

Sawamura had written his will, made letters to everyone important in his life. Except the newest addition in the form of a Chaos Demon with perpetual bedhead. He felt along the lines of the contract, felt where it was embedded into his own soul, tucked neatly into Kuroo’s.

 _I’m sorry._ It was the best he could give Kuroo. Could feel the sudden confusion and then understanding. Kuroo thought he was talking about the death of his teammate, not the fact that Sawamura had taken that death for his own. Sawamura put his hand in his pocket, felt the coin Kuroo had given him and gripped it tightly.

Sawamura stepped through the barrier because it was his own creation and it wouldn’t stop him. The creature stepped back and he could hear the delighted laughter, raspy and painful sounding. The other creatures turned towards him, crawling and jerkily walking to surround him. Sawamura could feel the rush of his team on the other side of the barrier, too thick to hear anything but the vibrations of shouts and fists against the shield.

“Curious, curious, curious.” The creature whispered, body jerking towards him quickly before swinging away.

Sawamura felt along the lines of his soul, ignored Kuroo shouting in his mind as he pressed against the edges. It ripped cleanly and easily and it hurt more than anything Sawamura had ever felt. Made every tear in his skin, every broken bone and scratch feel like nothing in comparison. He shoved Kuroo’s own soul and part of his into the other man, hoping it was enough to keep the demon grounded in the golem. Kuroo tried to hold onto him, tried to pull him back but Sawamura slipped away easily.

His body responded slowly to orders. It was harder to breath, to blink, to do much of anything.

 _Not done yet, you’re not done yet Sawamura Daichi_. It was his mantra now, a constant stream in his suddenly empty mind.

Sawamura had taken the power of the deaths of the Agency members and the Blighted into himself but he could feel 19 around him. A pulsing pound against his back.

Ennoshita had said they were trapped and with so much death flooding Sawamura’s system he could see how very close to being free those souls were. He would need to be quick, the creatures were watching him, curious and sure of themselves.

Sawamura released the curse on his back, felt it rip from his skin and explode from behind him. The creatures actually flinched back, paused and that was enough space of time to give Sawamura the opportunity to cut the final ties of 19 souls stuck in decaying bodies. He took those too, the curse greedily consuming them.

“No!” The creature screamed something in another language, ancient and hoarse and undecipherable as it pounced. Black smoking wings swiped it away easily as Sawamura fumbled for a card in his other pocket, his left hand still tightly gripping the coin, his last attachment to this world as he felt his soul losing its hold on his body.

Sawamura pressed the card against the barrier, watching as it solidified, backing up the barrier Sawamura had already created.

The creatures pressed forward, taking him down easily. Skin tore apart, bones broke but Sawamura hardly felt it at all. He thought about his father placing him on his broad shoulders, carrying him around and following each direction his younger son had pointed to. He remembered the way his mum smelled of bonfire, strong and woodsy. His grandmother’s warm smile and his grandfather’s tales of bravery. Sugawara’s unrestrained laughter and Asahi’s face when he actually believed in himself. Terushima’s hidden kindness and Kiyoko’s quiet encouragement. Iwaizumi’s off-key singing to bother Oikawa when he got too whiny.

Sawamura tied his death to the curse as fingers carved themselves into his face and something ripped at his chest.

Narita’s happy tears as his wife walked down the aisle, Kinoshita’s impressive ability to rap, and Ennoshita’s pride over a prank well played. Nishinoya’s boisterous compliments to everyone around him and Tanaka’s unwavering loyalty.

His head was beaten against the ground and they tried to tear apart his wings but they were made of death and a curse and the need to protect those around him.

Tsukishima’s snarky intelligence and Yamaguchi’s ability to tease everyone without offending anyone. Kageyama’s pride towards others who pulled off something impressive and Hinata’s ability to befriend anyone.

They tore and dug into him, not knowing that they only strengthened the curse. His wings grew larger, the curse feeding on his pain and agony and his death so-close by.

Kuroo. Kuroo’s- Kuroo’s laugh and smile and his not-pout-that’s-definitely-a-pout pout. His warmth and need to protect. His demonic nature he keeps in check by meddling in the affairs of his team. His dark eyes and sharp features and stupid hair.

Sawamura smiled as the final tie was cut. The black wings curled over them, consuming Sawamura and the creatures as Sawamura let go.

The curse was fulfilled. Sawamura Daichi died and took the creatures with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone commented "Now I just need to wait for the final boss battle to end with everyone alive and healing, and find out what Daichi will cook for Kuroo." And I felt so bad because this chapter was already written and I wrote this story with the intent that this would happen.
> 
> Hang in there, only two more chapters left!!
> 
> As always, huge thanks to **audriel** for editing this chapter!


	12. Kuroo Tetsurou and the Sawamura Tree

Coming back from the dead was about as difficult as Tetsurou suspected. It took nearly five months to clear through the red tape and the paperwork. Nekomata’s superiors seemed to throw up new roadblocks every time Tetsurou had cleared a hurdle, they nearly made him go all the way back to the Academy but Nekomata stepped in to stop that. He did have to retake all his tests, which he passed. The only reason it had taken the full two years to pass the exams to graduate was because Kenma kept failing the physical aspects and Tetsurou stuck around because that was what he does.

Honestly the five months hadn’t been as bad as Tetsurou suspected they would be. He had taken two complete months to sulk and mope and be a general bother in Kenma’s flat until the other man tired of his behavior and unleashed Bokuto Koutarou on him. It had been a wildly underhand move that Kuroo supported one hundred percent.

It hadn’t been surprising that Bokuto had sat calmly, listening to Tetsurou retell his story for really the first time. He told Bokuto all the things he had kept from his own teammates even. How when he was dead it was like wandering an empty, foggy landscape. Except he hadn’t had a body, he just floated around, alone and lost and confused. He told Bokuto about being pulled into a body that wasn’t meant to house a real, alive person. How he had gasped for air that wasn’t there because he had neither a mouth nor lungs. Until something strong and firm grabbed unto him, tied him to a safe harbor so he could crawl his way back into existence.

Mostly he had talked about Sawamura Daichi. How much the other man frightened Tetsurou at first because he held his life in his hands, he could have commanded Kuroo to stop breathing and Tetsurou would have followed that order to his second death. He talked about how having someone have complete and utter control over his life had made him angry and bitter and how hatred had boiled beneath the surface for Daichi. Until Tetsurou had realized how brave and intelligent and loyal Daichi was.

Daichi had been like reading an open book, to Tetsurou anyways. Other people thought of him as clear-headed and steady because that was how he truly was. Daichi let things affect him, scare him or surprise him and then he moved past it. He wasn’t needlessly stubborn and goal driven, if something wasn’t working then he was open to hearing suggestion and would gladly do things another way. He adjusted and evolved in an almost blindingly rapid pace.

Tetsurou told Bokuto how once Daichi had decided Tetsurou was okay that something had settled deep inside him. That raging, angry, bitter-filled other-nature of his calmed down and stopped looking for weaknesses to exploit in Daichi and his team. Because his team was his weakness, a big glaring one and it felt familiar to Tetsurou because his own team had been his greatest weakness also.

Bokuto remained silent through the entire story from start to finish. Tetsurou had seen the finish too, the final outcome, the last moments of Sawamura Daichi’s life. He had been a sobbing disgusting mess by the end. Tetsurou had always hated how easily he cried, but his emotions had always been right beneath the surface.

Talking about it hadn’t really helped. Tetsurou was still amazingly depressed and continued to mope around Kenma’s flat while simultaneously jumping through the hoops the Agency’s superiors held up for him.

Two more weeks and Kenma pulled out the big guns. Tetsurou’s mum. She had been understandably angry that her son hadn’t let her know immediately that he was back. Tetsurou didn’t tell her that for a short time he hadn’t known if he would be staying back. The contract with Daichi had gone awry and Tetsurou worried that if it was removed his physical form would slip back into its original state. He didn’t want his mum dealing with his death a second time.

Mostly though Tetsurou knew he couldn’t hide anything from his mum. She had laser focus when it came to her only son and she knew something was off right away. Tetsurou gave her the condensed version. A man named Sawamura Daichi had helped pull him into this world and he had been killed a few short weeks later.

Tetsurou hadn’t imprinted on him, he couldn’t have. He didn’t believe in that shite and even if he did he had only known Daichi less than a week. Yes, of course, the things he did know about Daichi he enjoyed thoroughly, especially how the man looked shirtless, scars and tattoos covering a body covered in muscle. His warm smile and his deep voice. He hadn’t imprinted, he was only hurting this deeply because Daichi had literally ripped his soul in two so Tetsurou’s soul would remain intact. The only reason he still felt Daichi like a physical ache beneath his ribs even after a year and half after his death was because he still had a part of Daichi’s soul. It ached and hurt because that piece of his soul wanted to be reunited with its true owner, not because of some bullshite imprinting.

“What’s going on?” Bokuto asked, glancing down at the phone Tetsurou kept looking at. Tetsurou put it down with a final thud before picking up his chopsticks.

“Nothing.” Tetsurou shrugged but clearly neither Bokuto nor Akaashi nor Kenma believed that by the looks on their faces. Sometimes Tetsurou missed Section Five’s Agency building desperately. It was small with exposed brick and the elevator made an alarming sound every time it was in use but most of the teams were spread out in the southern countryside. The halls empty, the cafeteria quiet. Section One’s building was always busy, always loud.

“He got a text earlier and he’s been acting like this ever since.” Kenma said with a sigh, as if the very act of telling on Tetsurou exhausted him. Tetsurou felt betrayed.

“A text? From who?” Bokuto asked, leaning forward with interest. Tetsurou knocked his wandering hands away from his phone, but like a good decoy Bokuto was just enough distraction for Akaashi to swoop in and grab it. Tetsurou didn’t make a play to get it back, part of him wanted them to know.

“It’s from Suga- he’s from Karasuno, yes?” Akaashi read through the text before leveling his eyes onto Tetsurou. It was nearly unnerving, even after years of knowing the other man. He was Tetsurou’s junior so there really was no reason to feel so intimidated, except that was just how Akaashi operated.

“He wants you to come and visit, it looks like he’s asked you a couple times.” Bokuto hummed softly as he read through the various texts Suga had sent Tetsurou, always replied with an excuse as to why he couldn’t come. “You always turn him down.”

“Bokuto you’re pressing into me quite hard.” Akaashi said softly before handing over the phone while Bokuto whined quietly, draping himself over his second-in-command.

“Tetsu never went to the funeral.” Kenma brought up, bringing the topic back to him. Tetsurou felt even more betrayed.

“Kuroo.” Akaashi said in that same disapproving voice he usually reserved for Bokuto and misbehaving juniors. Tetsurou’s shoulders sagged as he pressed his forehead to the table. He had no idea why he had agreed to have lunch with them, it was obviously a mistake. Ambush tactics like this were usually something he did.

“I’ll go with you.” Bokuto offered but Akaashi clicked his tongue in disapproval.

“Bokuto you just took off time to see your family.” Akaashi reminded him. Bokuto had a rather large family. His parents had divorced when he was still a child and had remarried other people within a two- year span. His mother and stepmother had adopted two girls and a little boy while his father and other stepmother had a girl and a boy themselves. It had made Bokuto feel like the odd person out from a young age, had attributed to his infamous self-worth problems.

“Akaashi-” Bokuto dragged the syllables of the name out into a near-ridiculous length. “This is important.” He rubbed his head against Akaashi’s shoulder. Tetsurou watched with growing amusement, seeing the faint flush rise on his fair skin had always been a pleasurable experience for Tetsurou, no matter his mood. Bokuto was, as usual, willfully oblivious to the effect he had on his second-in-command. A couple teams in Section One had a pool going on when Bokuto would catch on to Akaashi’s obvious feelings.

“I can get you two days.” Akaashi caved, as usual. It was hard to say no to Bokuto. It wasn’t as if the man ever asked for anything outrageous, and he wasn’t even asking for the time off for himself.

“Hey- wait, I never agreed to go.” Tetsurou spoke up.

“I just bought the train tickets.” Kenma said as he put down his phone and gave Tetsurou a blank look.

“I never agreed to this.” Tetsurou repeated.

“You owe me ten thousand yen.” Kenma stated, looking completely unaffected but Tetsurou had a lifetime of reading the minute movements of Kenma’s face and knew the other man was amused.

“Do not.” Tetsurou said, though he knew he was already defeated.

“Do too.” Kenma picked up his juice and took a sip of it.

“Do not.”

“Do too.” Tetsurou stared down at his half-eaten lunch.

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

 

\-------------

 

Section Five’s building was on the outskirts of Tokyo and was about a quarter of the size of Section Ones building. It was rundown, Daichi had told him that local kids had taken it as an act of valor or honor to steal the sign from the building, eventually they stopped replacing it. No matter how they spelled it or warded it those kids always managed to steal it. Tetsurou repeated the story to Bokuto, knowing he’d enjoy it because it sounded exactly like the sort of thing they’d do as teenagers.

The front desk was unmanned and there was a line of upside down coffee cups, about five of them. Bokuto tilted his head, moving close and then jumping  a meter in the air when the cups rattle towards him.

“We’re getting someone to take care of those.” Suga’s warm voice called out as Tetsurou and Bokuto stared down the cups before turning their attention to the other man. Tetsurou couldn’t say that Suga looked the same as the last time he saw him, a year and a half ago because roughly 540 days ago Suga watched his best friend since high school get slowly beaten to death and then had a curse consume everything within the barrier. He had lost all color, had beaten his hand so hard against the barrier he had shattered the bones in his palm- it wasn’t a time Tetsurou wanted to be reminded of. It was one of the main reasons Tetsurou hadn’t wanted to come back, even though he desperately wanted to be back.

“Hello Suga!” Bokuto called out, as if they were old friends. Suga smiled at him, not bothered in the least.

“It’s nice to see you again Bokuto.” Suga said genuinely as they shook hands. “You can put your bags over here. We don’t want to be late, everyone should already be down there.” Tetsurou was confused and by the look on Bokuto’s face, he was lost too but they follow Suga’s instructions and put their bags into a small storage closet before following Suga right out of the building.

They walked beside Suga, Bokuto striking up an easy conversation with the other man. He certainly looked better than the last time Tetsurou saw him. His hair was longer, curling slightly at the ends. His nose and cheeks were a little sunburned, though winter was just beginning its slow retreat for the season.

“How are you and Oikawa?” Tetsurou couldn’t help but ask when there was a lull in the conversation, his other-nature rearing its ugly head, looking for Suga’s weak points. Suga just smiled a little though, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jacket as he hid half of his face beneath his blue scarf.

“Good.” Suga said after a moment, considering. “We ah- got off to a rocky start but we’re- yeah, we’re doing good now.” He sounded honest and hopeful for the future. Tetsurou could see the guilt lingering beneath the happiness. Guilt for moving on, for being happy while his friend would never have the chance. A weakness that Tetsurou picked up on but he would never use against him.

“Oikawa Tooru?” Bokuto asked with interest, though he knew the stories that Tetsurou had told him about the other team leader, he still knew Oikawa before that. A lot of people believed that Akaashi was the brains of the Fukurodani group, and while Akaashi was outstandingly intelligent, it was very misleading to think he was the only one with intelligence on the team. Bokuto had a big personality and sometimes people didn’t see the sharp wit behind the large smiles.

“Yes.” Suga blushed and Bokuto tilted his head because really, Suga normally was just unfairly attractive. Suga blushing was something  hard to take your eyes off from and Bokuto had never been one to hide his emotions.

“Ohoho, someone tamed the Grand King?” Bokuto asked in amusement, unrestrained because Akaashi wasn’t there and it was not as if Tetsurou ever told Bokuto to calm down.

“The Grand King?” Suga laughed. “I thought only Hinata called him that. Did you pick it up from him?” He asked, casually changing the topic in a way that was so sly it impressed Tetsurou.

“ I picked it up from him.” Kenma could only help Hinata so much.  Both had Sprite blood their magic and abilities and the way they handled themselves were just too different for Kenma to have any great effect on Hinata. Bokuto was a near-perfect teacher for Hinata though, both in magic and attitude the two were extremely similar. Akaashi almost always had to stop the lessons because neither of them would stop until they were passed out cold on the floor. Hinata had a habit of dragging along his fellow junior members, or at least that was how they made it seem but Kageyama was highly curious about Kenma, Yamaguchi wanted extra practice, and though Tsukishima snickered and rolled his eyes, he also listened closely to whatever Bokuto, Akaashi, and even Tetsurou told him.

The beanpole was a demon, though Tetsurou never told anyone else. He seemed to have control over it himself, better than Oikawa anyways. Sometimes Tsukishima leaned towards the cruel side but Tetsurou could see the genuine worry hidden beneath layers of sarcasm and disdain and disinterest. Worry that he’d never be good enough and the constant worry that once people found out about him they would abandon him.

Tetsurou assumed that was why Tsukishima was often cruelest towards Hinata and Kageyama, trying to see how far he could push them. Kageyama was always quickest to anger but those feelings never lingered long, he was gruff with everyone, perhaps a little gruffer with Tsukishima but he barked out ‘good jobs’ and ‘nice work’ enough that it was obvious he had no real problem with Tsukishima being on the team. Hinata was harder to push, it was not as if the little Sprite didn’t get upset or angry, it was as if he brushes those feelings off almost instantly.

The quick way each of them took to everything they were taught was almost shocking. Hinata still had problems with the basics, Kageyama had issues communicating, Yamaguchi couldn’t settle his nerves completely, and Tsukishima needed to get over himself before he could become better but they were really amazing. The simple evolution of them spoke volumes about not only each individual person, but also Karasuno as a whole.

Seeing them once a week hurt though. A constant burning ache beneath his ribs that never seemed to go completely away. Tetsurou hid the pain behind caustic remarks and sly smirks but it was still there, and it really didn’t fool the ever watchful Kenma. Which was probably why the shorter man was so eager for Tetsurou to answer Suga’s request.

Bokuto and Suga happily chat away about their various juniors. Though Fukurodani, one of the tops teams in the country, attracted a wildly different crowd than Karasuno. Fukurodani worked wonderfully as a team, and it was one of the larger ones too, but Tetsurou wouldn’t choose to be in Fukurodani over Nekoma. The members of Nekoma were his family, and while Bokuto and Akaashi were close and Bokuto got along well enough with the rest of the team, it still lacked that close-knit feeling that Nekoma and even Karasuno had.

No one could really blame Bokuto for wanting to steal Hinata away. Bokuto loved that kid, though it was hard not to like the little ball of energy known as Hinata Shouyou.

“Ushijima doesn’t like him.” Suga spoke up, speaking of Hinata.

“What? How? Why does Ushijima even know Hinata?” Bokuto asked in confusion.

“Ushijima said he didn’t like baseless confidence.” Suga was laughing. “That Hinata had nothing to be proud about since he couldn’t even do the most basic of magic.” Bokuto blew up at that.

“He’s still super young and Ushiwaka needs to watch out because in a couple more years Shouyou is going to blow everyone out of the water!” Bokuto yelled as if he was Hinata’s leader instead of Suga, but the ash-haired man was nodding his head in agreement. Anyone could see that Hinata had the power and the potential to be something great, mostly he was focused and aided by those more experienced around him like Kageyama with Asahi and Tanaka picking up the slack. Bokuto was right though, the kid was evolving at a rapid pace. A few more years and he’d have the basics down and then he’d be unstoppable.

Tetsurou stopped walking because while he had only been there for less than a month, only walked outside of the Agency building a handful of times, he could still tell where they were going. The streets were growing less crowded, which could be attributed to the falling sun but the buildings were becoming older, less taken care of- abandoned.

Bokuto noticed his absence first, turning back and prompting Suga to stop too. The guilty twist of Suga’s mouth confirmed what Tetsurou had been thinking. The West Section, a place Tetsurou had sworn he would never go back to. Tetsurou had even visited the place where he had died, felt little more than a pang in his chest before moving on but this was too much.

“There’s something you need to see Kuroo.” Suga stated, taking a careful step towards him as if he was a wild animal. Feral and ready to run, which wasn’t really that far from the truth. Tetsurou didn’t know why he came back here, besides the fact that his friends were pushy and wouldn’t take no for an answer, but this was definitely not the reason.

“What’s the point?” Tetsurou found himself asking, glancing around at the streets, knowing he was close, too close. In another turn or two it would be where the vans dropped them off with the four other teams. Another block after that was the warehouse, the warehouse that Tetsurou wanted to burn to the ground.

“You don’t know me well.” Suga started and it was true enough. They had a handful of conversations for the past year and a half, Suga continuing with Hinata’s training like Daichi had planned. Before that they had talked more often, though not frequently or in depth. Mostly just quiet conversations while Daichi was laid out in bed from magic exhaustion or bad wounds. “So I understand if you want to leave, I won’t try to stop you but I really do think you should see this. I- it took me- it took me a while to come back here.” Tetsurou felt guilt, heavy and ugly in the pit of his stomach.

Suga had been friends with Daichi since they were in high school. They had been briefly separated while Daichi went directly to the Academy and Suga went into a pre-med program. The Academy was where agents were trained and it was in the very northern tip of Japan, a giant sprawling mansion and acres of training facilities. Tetsurou didn’t know what made Suga drop out of his program and join the Agency, though he suspected that it had a lot to do with Daichi.

What was Tetsurou’s pain of knowing Daichi less than a month compared to over a decade of friendship?

“Okay.” Tetsurou said, more out of guilt than any real want to follow Suga. They continued walking, silence wrapping around them. Bokuto was vibrating with unasked questions but even he knew it wasn’t the time.

Tetsurou didn’t understand how Daichi could have had such a profound effect on him in such a short amount of time. Yes, there was the potential between them, the very early signs of a relationship that could work extremely well but that was all it was. Potential and little touches and shared smiles during a difficult time in both of their lives.

“Oh.” It was more of an exhale than a word that escaped Bokuto, causing Tetsurou to look up from where he was frowning down at the side walk.

It was the warehouse, there was no mistaking it. Set slightly apart from the buildings around it, an ugly monstrosity from a different time period, made of rusted metal and broken windows. There was a beaten down tall fence around the perimeter, too many holes and sections missing to really keep anything in or out.

It was the same except it’s covered in green. Thick green ivy crawled up the side, springy grass spread out from the building nearly reaching the fence. The air smelled cleaner, purer and there were many people heading straight into the warehouse.

 

They all started walking again, though Tetsurou was not sure when they stopped. He knew next to nothing about plants but it seemed sudden and odd. How could such thick healthy-looking grass grow from what had been concrete before? Nothing should be able to grow there in the first place, and especially not after death magic was performed there just a year and a half prior. The land should be swollen like a boil, people should avoid it at all cost, the Agency should be keeping a close eye on it to make sure nothing dark and evil crawled its way up to it. Nothing living and clean should be growing there, let alone thriving.

There were several iconic places that were always brought up when death magic was mentioned. The Decimated Forest in Peru, the Mirror Desert in what was once a town in Canada, and Death Valley in China to name a few. They were dark places that had to be purified yearly or very dark creatures start to pool there, crawling up from the death and destruction wrecked there.

“It wasn’t the first time Daichi had used death magic.” Suga said quietly. Bokuto and Tetsurou turned to listen to him. Bokuto knew this story because Tetsurou had told him, but they didn’t know many details. “The place where it was performed was unaffected. Nothing bad has happened there since, no one feels a sense of dread or upset when near it. No one even had to purify the space. The Agency told Daichi that it was because he didn’t actually perform death magic, that it must have just been dark magic instead even though he had the mark of a curse on his back.” Tetsurou hadn’t known any of that, felt that sharp sense of something unknown in his stomach. Jealousy that Suga knew Daichi better, bitterness that he would never get the chance to know anything more about him that didn’t come secondhand.

“How is that possible?” Bokuto asked, frowning. He had done in-depth research about death magic after Tetsurou had told him the story. How Tetsurou couldn’t help but wonder what state Daichi was in in the afterlife. Was it the horrible empty field Tetsurou had to face? Some sort of hellish in-between world?

“I’ve always thought that death magic can work the same way as any other type of magic.” Suga admitted quietly. “The only reason it is known as something evil is because it’s only been used for evil means so far.” Bokuto pressed his lips together, thinking it out.

There was a line of people, perhaps 20 or 30 but they parted and let them through when they saw Suga leading them. Some smiled and called out a greeting, Suga waved at a child who bashfully waved from his hiding spot behind his mother's legs. Bokuto and Tetsurou exchanged a confused look before they walked into the warehouse.

Tetsurou reiterateed the point that he didn’t know anything about plants but he knew there was no way that a tree the size and thickness of the one taking up the majority of the space in the middle of the open warehouse should be there. The sheer circumference at the bottom must be 9 or 10 meters around but it was tall too. Shooting straight up four flights of the warehouse and brushing the ceiling. 20 meters? 30? Tetsurou wasn’t sure except to say it was tall and wide and impossible.

The trunk was some sort of dark, nearly black wood but the foliage that spreads out over every available ceiling space was ~~a~~ lush green, except for the thousands of pink and white flowers sprouting every which way. It was unlike any tree Tetsurou had seen.

The grass was even thicker inside, lush and green in a way Tetsurou, city born and bred, had never seen before. Big thick roots emerged from the grass, children running along them and hopping over them and around them. Tetsurou couldn’t even see the holes in which the Blighted had emerged, overtaken by roots and grass.

A soft tug on his sleeve led him over to the side of the warehouse, where the rest of Karasuno and a few others were.

“How?” Tetsurou asked, his eyes returning to the tree. He noticed around the trunk there were gifts. Prayer tablets and beads and flowers, even a teddy bear.

“Several priests came to purify it, backed up with a couple Agency members to handle anything left over but instead they found grass and a thin sapling.” Suga told him, his eyes also on the tree, crinkles around the corner as he smiled at the laughing and playing children. Their parents watching on from a distance, other people milling about. “It’s as if the area had purified itself.” Oikawa slid up next to Suga, fingers entangling with the shorter man’s, his eyes softer than Tetsurou had ever seen them. Though that’s not saying much since Oikawa was always glaring at him.

“Purified itself?” Bokuto asked in disbelief.

“T-the Sawamura’s-” Asahi had to clear his throat a couple times, only starting again when Noya leaned against the taller man’s legs. Noya was sitting on the ground with Ennoshita next to him, Asahi had been sitting next to him until he stood when he saw Suga. “The Sawamuras have owned a shrine for generations, their family home was on the same spot. It’s very old and the spirits there protect the area, have always loved the Sawamuras. This- this place feels like there.” Something loosened in Asahi as he looked over at the large tree, his shoulders losing some of their tension. Suga nodded, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

“This isn’t really the only reason I wanted you to come.” Suga opened his eyes, smiled a little warily.

“You’re very manipulative Suga.” Tetsurou said with approval. Oikawa narrowed his eyes, pulling the other man closer to him but Suga just smiled modestly. “We’ll start once the sun sets.” Bokuto leaned a warm shoulder against Tetsurou, some tension leaking out of him at the contact. The physical reminder that he wasn’t alone, that Bokuto wouldn’t think any less of him if he high tailed it out of there. But he was curious.

The tree and the grass and the very relaxed atmosphere of the warehouse was nice but it didn’t necessarily make Tetsurou feel any better. Daichi was still dead and no tree was going to replace that though Tetsurou known Daichi well enough to know that the other man would be happy that the warehouse wouldn’t be put on one of those ‘Top 10 Places Devastated by Death Magic’ lists. Knew Daichi would rest a little easier knowing his death wouldn’t cause a place to become invested with dark creatures. It would help Daichi but it didn’t help Tetsurou all that much.

Looking over at the Karasuno members, and Terushima near the end of the line talking with Hinata, Tetsurou knew it didn’t really settle much for them either. They looked healthy and happy for the most part, but there was a tinge of darkness written across their souls now, a lingering sadness in their eyes.

They had lost not only Daichi that day but Kinoshita too. Tetsurou hadn’t talked much to the other man, but had observed enough to know that he was helplessly in love with Narita. Narita who was married with a child on the way. Narita who would never know the true reason they were fighting, why there was suddenly an awkward air between the old friends, and words left unsaid. An argument that could never be settled.

It was easier to think of Kinoshita, even maybe easier to think of Daichi than it was to think of Inuoka. Because it hadn’t just been Daichi that day who had sacrificed himself for others. Inuoka had taken a blow meant for Lev, Lev who fought completely unguarded. Tetsurou wasn’t quite sure who felt the most torn up about Inuoka’s death, how heavily it weighed on each of their shoulders. Tetsurou felt responsible as a leader, Yaku as their defense, and Lev- well Lev never fully recovered.

It wasn’t until much later when grief had settled heavily on Tetsurou’s shoulders, that he realized what Daichi must have noticed right away. That each team had one single member taken out, except for Iwaizumi who had lost an arm instead of his life but that was mostly due to good timing and the fortunate luck of having Suga around who knew what the poison had been even if it wasn’t native to Asia.

Those creatures had been playing with them and Daichi had looked beyond his own sadness, his own grief and seen it. Had analyzed the situation and must have realized his barrier wasn’t going to hold up. That they couldn’t rely on an unknown factor to protect them, to protect the city and its inhabitants they had sworn to protect. An oath that Daichi took to heart, like a warrior from an old legend.

Tetsurou understood Daichi’s reasoning behind his decision. Understood and approved, would have probably made the same decision if he had the same options as Daichi. But despite all that logic and understanding floating around Tetsurou’s brain, it didn’t stop him from hating Daichi for what he had done. Hating Daichi for making Tetsurou like and admire and want to take care of him. It was burning irrationality to his cold logic.

Kids ran back to their parents as the sun dipped low on the horizon. The warehouse became dim then dark. Iwaizumi showed up with Hanamaki and Matsukawa in tow, sliding past them before settling near Oikawa, who had released Suga and stood back.

It didn’t take long for Tetsurou to realize that everyone in the warehouse was looking at them, or more specifically over at their particular section of the warehouse. Slightly isolated from the gathering masses, the space around them was odd.

Suga tucked his hair behind his ear, looking unbelievably young even though he must be 30 by now. He stepped up in his warm jacket and blue scarf to ward against the colder nights even if winter was loosening its icy grip from the country. Everyone was completely silent, not even the children or various dogs and cats made a single noise as Suga stepped closer.

Something rustled from the branches above. Tetsurou squinted as something glowed faintly through the thick foliage that looked like black shadows on a black background.

Suga made an almost eerie pale figure, standing alone on top of a thick root that stuck out of the ground. The glowing orb made its way through the branches until it cleared the leaves and flowers completely and looked amazingly like a mage’s light except it was in the shape of a tear. It glowed and lowered slowly right into Suga’s outstretched hands. It looked so much like liquid Tetsurou was almost surprised that it didn’t melt right into Suga’s pale fingers, but he gripped it, and it glowed brighter in his hands as he brought it close to his chest.

“No idea what it is but it has amazing healing properties and it only ever works for Suga.” Asahi pitched his voice low, his mouth near Tetsurou’s ear to explain as Suga walked back. He cradled the glowing tear that was about the size of a pineapple in his arms. Suga’s eyes were filled with tears but he had a wobbly smile on his face as he pressed into Oikawa’s waiting arms, both clearly not worried about the glowing orb that looked even more like liquid now that it was only a meter from Tetsurou.

Asahi looked nervous as he stepped forward, big shoulders hunched, tall frame only standing out more when he was standing by himself. Asahi reached out, standing up tall, stretching long limbs and a long torso to reach up for the canopy that should be too high up, far out of reach but it was as if edges of the branches were reaching down towards him, to meet somewhere in the middle.

It was as if the entire warehouse inhaled at the same time, Asahi’s fingers brushing against a white flower that stood out in the dark against the black-looking leaves. The flower glowed faintly white and then the glow spread to the ones around it. Pink and white spread across the ceiling like magical fireflies.

It was gentle and warm and amazing like the large giant who ambled his way back to the ground, sliding down the wall to sit next to Noya who allowed the bigger man to hide his face in his neck. It really should look ridiculous, awkward even but there was something so natural about it. Soft and easy.

Tetsurou looked up to the glowing flowers, iridescent and lighting up the warehouse. He wondered how long it took them to realize the tree could do these things. He wondered how much of Sawamura Daichi was in that tree, if his spirit couldn’t be held down by ancient dark creatures bent on destroying him so it spread into the very ground of beneath the warehouse.

Instead of letting the gloomy thoughts bury sharp claws in his mind he looked over, studying those next to him. There was an odd sort of tension between Iwaizumi, Matsukawa, and Hanamaki. If Tetsurou was being honest he didn’t know which one was Matsukawa and which one was Hanamaki, though he could just look up their files. They were never really introduced to him, just a motion and their names. Iwaizumi stretched the hand on his new arm, Tetsurou sympathized with the feeling of phantom limbs that were there but didn’t really feel like they were his. There were still things about this new formally golem-body that feel off to Tetsurou. Tetsurou knew Iwaizumi had to go to Europe to get the replacement, and that he went by himself because having just one of their most senior members on leave was enough and Iwaizumi seemed like the type of man who feels duty bound to make his significant others stay back.

The tension wasn’t relationship ending, just maybe relationship altering. They still came together, still stand close by though Iwaizumi pretended to put his new-hand into his jacket pocket right as the shorter one with light hair went to grab it. It was not a rebuff as much as awkwardness, Iwaizumi shifted his body as soon as he realized he might have hurt the other ones feeling, leaning lightly against the taller man.

Terushima was swinging himself up onto his feet, brushing off the seat of his jeans in a move that would be casual if it weren’t for the tear tracks running down his face. He was still smiling though and Tetsurou wasn’t sure if he had met anyone quite like Terushima before. Raised in the spotlight, destined for greatness since birth but treated poorly by the one person in the world who was supposed to love you unconditionally. Tetsurou could tell that was part of the reason Terushima latched onto Daichi, why most people stuck around the dark-haired man. Daichi loved unconditionally, he never expected anything in return and he accepted Terushima wholly.

Terushima pulled out a card from his back pocket. Tetsurou couldn’t be certain from the couple of meters that separated them but he was sure it was just a plain playing card. With a quick snap of his wrist Terushima sent the card flying upwards. It shouldn’t have been able to reach that great distance but it did, knocking off one of the glowing pink flowers.

More flowers began to fall, like cherry blossoms. Everyone was looking up, watching their descent with awe.

Next to Tetsurou, Bokuto held his hand out, a small glowing flower landed in the center of his palm. Carefully he touched the petals. Another flower lightly fell by Tetsurou’s face, unbelievably soft as it settled on his shoulder.

The children were collecting the flowers. Tetsurou watched as some of the buds seemed to be heading straight towards the young ones until they would twist in mid-air, making the kids laugh and give chase.

Kiyoko was weaving a flower crown, every time she held her hand out several flowers would gently fall into her waiting palm. It took her no time at all to finish the crown, leaning over just slightly to where Yachi was reclining with her back against Tanaka. Yachi smiled widely as the crown was placed on her head, leaning over to kiss the very tip of Kiyoko’s nose, the older women blushing even in the darkness. She settled back and began making another crown, the flowers floating right to her when she needed them before she had another crown. Tanaka smiled, not his usual large boisterous one, but a shy small thing as he ducked his head and allowed Kiyoko to place the softly glowing crown on his own head. Soft words were exchanged before Kiyoko nodded and Tanaka brushed his lips, quick and lightly, against Kiyoko’s forehead before pulling Yachi closer to his chest.

Closer to Tetsurou, Noya was weaving the flowers into Asahi’s shoulder length hair, now free from the tie that had been holding it up in a loose bun. Instead of lightly drifting towards Noya whenever he needed more, they seemed to be swirling around him. Not so many to be overwhelming but noticeable and in a world with demons and fae and witches, Tetsurou couldn’t help but feel like this was true magic. Soft and light and comforting.

Time slowly trickled by, the ground was littered with glowing flowers but there still seemed to be even more up in the canopy. Tetsurou took a seat against the wall, noting that it was covered in ivy also. Bokuto wandered, mostly heading closer to the tree and dodging around laughing kids before he made his way over to the other groupings of people. Most likely to gather information in Bokuto’s easy, happy manner that made people want to talk to him.

Suga sat next to Tetsurou as Oikawa turned to his own team. The glowing tear drop was sitting in his lap and Tetsurou reached out a hand to touch it. It was cool to the touch, like jumping into sun-warmed water after standing out in the sun in the summer for too long. It was also surprisingly solid.

“It has a clear skin.” Suga explained. “The inside is liquid but all the parts are- they have these wonderful healing properties.” Suga glanced over to Iwaizumi, considering before continuing. “The prosthetics they use in Europe are impressive but they take months to adhere to the natural skin, muscle, and bone. It’s uncomfortable most of the time and painful when the natural bone and synthetic ones are trying to meld together. Even after that it takes even longer to learn control again over the limb, sometimes a person's body outright rejects it. This though, we took the shell and wrapped it around where the prosthetic met the end of his arm and it- you can’t even tell where his arm had ended.”

“You sped up the process but Iwaizumi is still waiting for the other shoe to drop.” For something to go wrong, to lose control of the limb. To push too hard or squeeze too tightly, which was why he didn’t want to hold his boyfriend’s hand.

“The prosthetics are stronger, faster, they don’t take damage the rest of the body does.” Suga said. Tetsurou hadn’t known much about the European magic scene, there was enough in Japan to keep him busy for a lifetime but he could see why a healer like Suga would be interested in those types of developments.

They fell quiet again, content to watch and listen to those around them. Watching as the other people slowly trickled out the later it got, taking their kids home after a magical evening spent at the tree created from death.

“Does it only react to you three?” Tetsurou found himself asking as Kiyoko, Tanaka, and Yachi made their way out with various waves and goodbyes.

“No.” Suga smiled, gentle and a little sad. “It reacts to everyone in Karasuno. It’s um- private to a lot of us though, like showing off a wound to a crowd full of people but it’s not as if we can keep this from the public.” Daichi wouldn’t want that, went unsaid but it was heard. Narita and Ennoshita left next, the taller man showing off pictures of his daughter to a smiling Ennoshita.

“Don’t stay out too late.” Iwaizumi was saying as he backed out with his boyfriends in tow. The two grinned at each other behind Iwaizumi’s back.

“Yes dad.” Oikawa said in a sing-song voice.

“I mean it Shittykawa!” The canopy shook overhead, as if emphasizing Iwaizumi’s point. Iwaizumi pointed up. “You get him out of here if he tries to linger too late.” A low groaning sounded, the whistle of wind in branches and despite all that Tetsurou had seen and heard, this was the most shocking. Tetsurou was staring in shock, too distracted to watch Iwaizumi and the others leave.

“It’s sentient?” Tetsurou meant it as a statement but it came out as a question.

“We think so.” Suga said hesitantly, looking up. He then nodded when Hinata stood up, making his way to the trunk without his usual jumping stride. He walked a straight path despite the many twisting roots, but they pulled close to the ground as he walked. Moving and shifting out of his way so a clear path was left. Tetsurou frowned before looking up in the canopy, noticing that a hole had appeared to let in direct moonlight, actually lighting up the direct path. Hinata didn’t linger at the trunk long, he just crouched down and placed something on the ground before jogging to the exit. Kageyama yelled out, following the shorter man out.

The only people left was Asahi, Noya, Suga, Oikawa, Bokuto, and Tetsurou. It should have been eerie, a dark warehouse in the middle of the night that had seen so much death and destruction less than two years ago but it wasn’t. It was calm and soothing and Tetsurou wanted to curl up and sleep there.

Bokuto was chatting happily with Noya, who was enthusiastically talking back with wide motions. Oikawa was the only one still standing, something about getting grass stains on his slacks. Suga didn’t seem to mind as he leaned his head onto Asahi’s shoulder, the larger man resting his head on top of Suga’s in return in a move that had been casual and instinctual.

Tetsurou stood up, pretending his hands weren’t trembling as he made his way towards the trunk. How did the others find out how the tree responded to them? Would Tetsurou even make the cut? It had only been three weeks. But Tetsurou wanted to know. He knew logically that this tree wasn’t Daichi, was just a manifestation of his sacrifice and the magic left behind after his death but emotions and feelings didn’t rely on rationality.

Tetsurou was so concentrated he tripped over a root, feeling his stomach drop because he knew those roots could move but hadn’t for him? Why was the approval of one tree so important to him-

Something wrapped around his waist, pulling him upright before gently untangling from him. Tetsurou watched the vine retreat back into the branches.

“Arsehole.” Tetsurou grumbled because the roots could move but it was as if the tree had purposely tripped him for not paying attention. Wind trickled through the canopy and it sounded like laughter.

Tetsurou ignored the stinging in his eyes as he continued to the trunk. It wasn’t as if sentient plants didn’t exist in the world but they were old ancient things and they weren’t known for tripping people and laughing about it. It seemed like something a juvenile would do to a person they liked.

 

The bark of the trunk felt surprisingly smooth under his hand. The floor was covered with little gifts and prayers. There was a picture of Kinoshita, young with a big afro hair and a shy smile. Another framed picture of the deceased Shiratorizawa member, except this one was his official Agency picture. There were candy and beads, little tokens left behind.

Tetsurou wished he had brought something of Inuoka’s, tried to not to think about how much the young man would have loved to see this tree. The kid had been a bundle of never ending energy, but he was quick and smart. He had so much potential. He never got angry or bitter, even when Lev came onto the team later than him and took his position as the regular field member. He just offered to help Lev train. He had only been 19, he had graduated the Academy early because of his high scores. Inuoka had asked Tetsurou how he could repay Daichi back because Daichi had given him meat buns to give to the Karasuno team so Inuoka could spend more time with Hinata.

Tetsurou rested his forehead against the warm bark, letting his tears flow freely down his face where no one could see.

“Was it my fault Daichi?” Tetsurou asked quietly. “Is it because I came back?” That type of alchemy was strictly forbidden. Old myths and legends said that to bring someone back, someone else must be sacrificed. Was this some sort of Butterfly Effect because he had been given a second chance but it had come at the cost of other people's lives?

Something solid landed on Tetsurou’s head, making him scramble back before quickly shifting to catch the object. It was big, about 20 or so centimeters and shaped like an egg. Except it was covered in the same brown-black bark the tree was, smooth and warm to the touch.

“You were so gentle with the others.” Tetsurou couldn’t help but say, even as he hugged whatever the object was close to him. Wind whistled through the branches again, soft barely there laughter. Tetsurou had at least stopped crying and doubting himself with the sudden appearance of the object.

The thing cracked, tiny little thin vines appeared, waving gently in the air before wrapping around his fingers. The touch was barely-there, Tetsurou could easily pull his hands away but there was such a soft warmth radiating from the item. It felt like-

“A seed?” Tetsurou asked, thumb gently pulling away to watch as the vine wrapped around the digit almost playfully. Tetsurou turned back around, making the small walk back towards the silent group. “I think it’s a seed.” Tetsurou was frowning though. He lived with Kenma in an apartment building with 10 floors and no grass. His mother had a small vegetable garden in a shared plot but if the seed became as large as the tree behind him, he didn’t think his mum would be too happy about her ruined vegetables.

“I know the perfect place to plant it.” Suga smiled, glancing over at Asahi who nodded back firmly.

 

\----------

 

The old Sawamura shrine was built into the side of a mountain. It wasn’t saying much because it seemed like Miyagi was a place of mountains. The Academy was out in the country too, up north but it was all big sprawling fields and empty spaces. Miyagi was mountains and big trees and houses spread apart.

The best part was hearing Asahi and Suga recount stories from their youth, which usually involved Daichi since they all attended the same high school. It wasn’t surprising to learn that Daichi had always been responsible and upstanding. It was surprising to learn that one time he pulled the fire alarm to end a fight with the captain of the basketball team.

As they trekked up the mountain Tetsurou listened to how everyone gave Asahi a wide berth of space at first until they realized he was a big push over. Then came the bullies and Daichi getting into his first. After that people became wary of Daichi but Asahi was roped into helping with basically every club in their school. Hanging up signs? Ask Asahi, that way no one needs to find a ladder. Moving boxes? Ask Asahi, he can carry four without breaking a sweat. Need a butler for the butler cafe during festival? Ask Asahi, he looks great in a tux and he’ll bring in all the moms.

Suga had to deal with the fallout of being friends with two attractive friends. Suga lamented how Daichi had never gone through an awkward stage, had been an adorable kid to a cute preteen to an attractive teen to a handsome adult. Unlike Suga who said he had been short and chubby until the summer before he started high school. Girls and guys alike went to Suga to give him notes and treats to give to Daichi and later on, Asahi.

Tetsurou was glad it was just a small group going. Oikawa had to stay back in Tokyo since Iwaizumi still wasn’t cleared for field work and that left them with only three senior field members. Tetsurou had no idea how Suga, who was now the leader of Karasuno, Asahi, and Noya had all managed to get time off but he had some ideas. It probably helped that Karasuno was the clear favor of both Ukai senior and junior.

Walking into the Sawamura shrine was like walking into that warehouse. There was trepidation weighing Tetsurou down, but it slid away as soon as he stepped on the property. Tetsurou had been to plenty of old places, Japan was full of them, and he had gone to many old shrines. Mostly they had a slightly oppressive feeling, Tetsurou had always wondered if that was because he was a demon and the deities and spirits didn’t want them on their holy ground. You felt an instant need to quiet yourself, to breath and walk lightly. The spirits and deities alike were old, easily offended things.

The Sawamura shrine was nothing like that. The light was softer, the air lighter, and there were cats everywhere. Tetsurou could almost feel the land perk up as Asahi and Noya walked in first, followed quickly by Suga. Tetsurou could feel something akin to curiosity as he and Bokuto followed but it wasn’t cold or calculating, it was wondering and warm. As if the very shrine was saying Come in, have some tea, pray a little, pet my cats.

A big majestic-looking silver Maine Coon stepped in Tetsurou’s path, causing him to stop and stare down at the huge cat. He held the seed in his hands, little tiny vines tapping against his skin.

“That’s Daichi’s favorite cat, we um- haven’t- she- she’s been gone for a while.” Asahi stumbled out, sounding relieved and confused as the Maine Coon continued to stare up at Tetsurou. Tetsurou, a fan of all things that came in a cat-like shape, bent down and cradled the seed with one arm, the other reaching out for the cat.

“Daichi’s grandfather once told me Momo has been around since he was a little boy.” Suga commented with a wide smile, clearly amused as the cat, Momo, sniffed at Tetsurou’s fingers before pushing against them. Tetsurou curled his fingers into the thick fur, scratching lightly.

“Maybe he’s a Bakeneko .” Noya spoke excitedly but Asahi balked. Momo, done with introductions started to strut away. Tetsurou stood up to continue following the others to the house until a loud yowl made him stop mid walk. They all turned slowly towards Momo who was looking rather unimpressed with Tetsurou’s life choices.

“I think she wants you to follow her.” Bokuto said, trying to keep the eagerness out of his voice and failing greatly.

“If she is a Bakeneko then you should do what she says.” Noya warned.

“Yuu stop.” Asahi said, sounding frightened enough for all of them so Tetsurou pulled up his big boy pants and decided to follow the large cat, Bakeneko or not he never gave up the opportunity to follow a fluffy cat.

Honestly Tetsurou had always thought his team had been aptly nicknamed, they were all a bit more obsessed with cats than they should probably be. Nobuyuki had the most, coming in at 6 cats total though he managed to hide his obsession better than the rest.

There was a small fairy glen twisting in between the trees. Some of the little houses looked old and very basic with worn stripes of color on sun bleached wood. Others looked practically new, beautifully carved and put together done in an array of colors.

“Daichi made all of those, two a year since he was 8.” Suga explained as they made their careful way around them. “His grandfather said it was to give him something to do, to take his mind off from what had happened to his parents. He kept doing them until-” Suga shrugged, gaze a little lost as he looked over the miniature village. Started by a little lost boy for the spirits of the shrine ending with an adult man keeping up a tradition for his deceased grandfather.

They moved on after another demanding yowl from Momo. Several spirits peaked out of their little homes, nothing more than wispy smoke, vague shapes and outlines. They dodged around the trees, sometimes through the trees, twisting around Noya with quiet little gasps of laughter. One hovered above Asahi’s shoulder, gently taking out one of the flowers still tangled in his hair before dashing off into the forest. The three Karasuno members carried on as if nothing was amiss but Bokuto gave chase to the spirits, trilling laughter following him as they simply disappeared from this world when he got too close.

“Oh that’s- um- oh.” Asahi said as they stopped, staring at a small hole in the ground. A hole in a cleared area, suspiciously the size of the seed in Tetsurou’s arms.

“So I’m guessing you didn’t dig that?” Tetsurou asked in his best deadpan voice as he moved around the group, coming to kneel in front of the hole. Bokuto crouched next to him, a big hand rubbing hard circles against his back. Bokuto had always been a bit rough, as if he didn’t realize the strength that he carried with him but Tetsurou had long gotten used to the rough touches. It had become a comfort over the years.

They had driven to Miyagi right after their visit with Sawamura’s Tree in the west section. The seed hadn’t left his hands since then even though the sun was high in the sky now, beaming down on them mid-morning as it tried valiantly to chase away the last dredges of winter. The little vines against his skin had become a comfort, had allowed him to drift off to sleep in the car with his head resting on Bokuto’s broad shoulder. He was surprised to find himself so reluctant to let it go. Like he was burying the last thing he had of Daichi into the ground but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to let go yet.

To hell with only knowing Daichi a short amount of time, he was tired of using that as an excuse. Daichi had become important to him, burying himself beneath Tetsurou’s skin. Daichi had been facing his own death, knew the conclusion that last battle would have as he walked up to that barrier and he had thought of Tetsurou. Had torn his soul in half to save Tetsurou’s own soul from taking any damage.

Tetsurou took a deep breath, ignoring the stinging in his eyes and the choppy way his breathing was coming out as he placed the seed into the freshly dug ground. Several wispy spirits were crowded close, one that Tetsurou was sure that Bokuto had been playing with earlier was leaning over Bokuto’s shoulder. The little vines held onto Tetsurou’s hands as he let the seed settle before the vines slowly let him go.

Bokuto covered the seed with the upturned earth, knowing that Tetsurou had come to his limit. He patted the dirt gently, a small bump in the ground was all the indication that there was something special buried beneath.

Considering how magical the other tree had been Tetsurou was a little disappointed when nothing happened. He felt a little juvenile thinking that a huge tree would sprout right away, before his very eyes but he had expected something.

A hand clapped his shoulder gently.

“Come on, we’ll show you the house.” Suga was smiling in that same gentle, sad way that made Tetsurou know that he was disappointed by the outcome too though he was trying to valiantly hide it. “Noya agreed to make breakfast and he’s a great cook.” Noya beamed at that compliment.

“And there’s a bunch of old videos of Daichi.” Asahi said softly, as if he wasn’t sure how the reception would go if he offered that up. Tetsurou smiled as he stood, brushing off imaginary dirt. Momo and the spirits were gone, the sun was warm on his neck and he desperately wanted a connection with Daichi, even if it came in the form of his old home and some family videos.

“His old high school girlfriend sent us a disk, she filmed everything and she swears that Daichi danced in it.” Suga said excitedly, some genuine happiness lighting up his eyes as they all started to walk back, betting on the level of how horribly stiff Daichi was with dancing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So one more chapter after this and it's end of the story! 
> 
> I was wondering if anyone would be interest in other characters stories involved in this world? Like perhaps some more Sugawara or Asahi or Iwaizumi or Hinata or- you get the picture. Let me know if that's something any of you are interested in and what characters you'd like to see! 
> 
> if you want that, that is. If not, that's cool!
> 
> Thank you **audriel** for you fantastic edits!


	13. Sawamura Daichi and the Uncooked Meal

**Chapter 13: Sawamura Daichi and the Uncooked Meal**

Sawamura woke up in a field. The area he laid on was full of ~~p~~ lush grass but all around him were flowers. His grandmother had loved flowers, planted and carefully nurtured them around their house and shrine they took care of so he knew the names of many of them. Peonies, orchids, daisies, roses, lilies, and azaleas ran free in-between flowers he had never seen, didn’t know the names of. Bright colors should have clashed together, overloaded the sense of smell and sight but they somehow blended together.

The sky was a soft blue, fluffy white clouds floating through here and there. Sawamura could feel the sun against his skin but it wasn’t anywhere he could see, not shining brightly into his eyes or making him sweat profusely. It was nice, a calming atmosphere like the most perfect spring day. A gentle breeze ruffled the flowers and touched him gently, not enough to be cold.

Sawamura sat up and knew something was off. He didn’t ache or hurt anywhere which was wrong. Sawamura always had aches and pains, scratches or bruises, sore muscles and aching bones. Ever since high school when he joined the volleyball club after the basketball one rejected him for being too short. He knew even at the age of 15 that he wanted to join the Agency, be a field member and he needed to be in shape to do that. A sports club was the easiest way to go about doing that but he hadn’t realized how physical volleyball was. It used every ounce of his body and he hadn’t really had a day since he was 15 where he wasn’t sore.

Sawamura’s body didn’t ache though. He pulled up his shirt, a soft Academy one he thought he’d lost years ago that had been his favorite, and looked at what had been a nasty looking sword wound dead center to his stomach. The wound was faded, blending in with his other scars as if it hadn’t been an angry red tear the last time Sawamura had checked.

Then he remembered what had happened to him right before he ended up here. His fingers found other wounds, made by nails and dull teeth but those they looked rather ugly, torn bits of flesh, they had healed over just fine also. He felt his face and neck, feeling the slightly raised skin but it didn’t pull awkwardly at his face. It was as if he had gotten those wounds years ago.

Sawamura pushed himself to his feet, testing out each muscle and limb. He was dressed in a pair of his favorite sweat pants and that old ragged Academy t-shirt combined with a pair of white converse that he was sure had gotten destroyed when a salamander had gotten spooked and breathed fire, melting his shoes to the concrete.

Sawamura ran his fingers over his face again while he looked around, feeling the raised skin that was concentrated on the left side of his face. Felt like four claw marks and he had the memory of fingers digging into his skin but even though it was clear the feelings attached to it were faded, like it had happened a while ago. No fear or pain, just the knowledge of how it came to happen.

The flower field was big, spreading out amongst grassy hills all the way to his left. To his right though was a dense forest but even though it should have looked ominous, there shouldn’t have been any light to hit the forest floor it looked comforting. Curiosity curled fingers around his spine as he stared at it, made out a small beaten down path that winded through the trees and disappeared into the distance.

Behind him, past the curve of the hill was a wide expanse of water. Deep turquoise blue, a color Sawamura had seen in photos but not in any area of Japan he’d been to. Making his way towards the calming water he noticed a long dock, wooden and steady with faded white paint covering it.

“Sawamura?” A voice asked from his left and Sawamura turned, shocked to see Kinoshita sitting amongst the flowers. Sawamura made his way over easily, sat down next to the other man as they both stared at the gentle waves against the white sand beach. “I was beginning to wonder when you’d wake up.”

“Have I been asleep for a while?” Sawamura asked, staring down at his tattoo covered arms and remembering how the bones had broken and pierced his skin. A memory that was pressed against his mind but no longer hurt as much.

“I think so? Time- it um- works a little differently here.” Kinoshita tried to explain, looking embarrassed that he didn’t have the right information. Kinoshita had always been quiet, more so when they got their new batch of juniors in. It was hard to compete with a genius like Kageyama and even Tsukishima was impressively intelligent when he applied himself. Sawamura hadn’t thought he needed to explain to the others not to compare themselves, that it helped no one. Yes, Kageyama was a genius but he was still young and amazingly inexperienced. One day he’d pass Sawamura, he knew that, but he still had a lot to learn, a lot of things Sawamura could teach him. Perhaps it was a failing on his part as a leader for not recognizing Kinoshita’s withdrawal was due to feelings of inadequacy.

“Where is here?” Sawamura found himself asking, choking down the real question of ‘was I a good leader?’ He tried to ignore the niggling feeling in the back of his head that told him quite plainly that Kinoshita’s neck had been broken, his eyes had seen no more.

“It’s like an in-between,” Kinoshita explained, sounding more confident. “Not quite dead but not quite living. I think everyone sees it differently. When people are ready to move on they go that way. It looks like a bridge to me.” Kinoshita pointed in the direction of the dock.

“Why are you still here then?” Sawamura asked, though he was almost certain he knew the answer.

“I wanted to wait until you woke up.” Kinoshita smiled, shy and small.  “Inuoka kept me company for a while but he really wanted to see his brother. He died a year ago- or a year before we all- um- you know. He was sick for most of his life but the dead don’t get sick, right? Inuoka figured he was healthy and able to run around like a proper kid.”

“Thank you, for staying.” Sawamura said, though it was more than he deserved. His job had been to protect his team, to teach them to protect themselves but he had failed. Kinoshita was dead, stuck in some odd in-between world waiting for Sawamura to wake up.

“It’s partially for a selfish reason.” Kinoshita admitted, quickly and quietly as if afraid of Sawamura’s reaction. “I wanted to explain what others told me to you, and I wanted to make sure you didn’t wake up alone but I need to ask you to do something if you choose to go back.

“Choose to go back?” Sawamura asked, eyebrows raised.

“I am in love with Narita.” Kinoshita said quickly, eyes clenched closed tightly. Sawamura was a little surprised but he stayed quiet, let the other man work through his emotions. “For a couple years now, it hurt when he got married but I was just happy to still be in his life, to be chosen as his best man. I know he loved me too, just- just not in the way I loved him, and that was enough. Until they got pregnant and- wow, that sounds horrible right? I was happy for them, Narita’s parents weren’t- they weren’t proper parents, but he’s always wanted a small army of children and he was lucky to marry a woman who wanted the same thing. But it just hit me, that whatever hope or imaginary fantasies I had made up were really done and over with.” Kinoshita opened his eyes to stare off into the horizon.

“That doesn’t make you a bad person.” Sawamura said softly.

“No but the way I reacted- he was so excited, so happy to share the news with me and I couldn’t get out of my own head long enough-” Kinoshita took a deep breath, held it in before letting it out slowly. “I never let him know how happy I was for him, that his dream was coming true. I d-died and we never- we were fighting. Please could you tell him?”

“Kinoshita,” Sawamura said slowly, trying to work out how to tell the other man what had happened after he died. How Sawamura had used Kinoshita’s death to power his own curse, how he most likely wasn’t going to end up in whatever place Kinoshita and Inuoka went to. That he definitely couldn’t go back.

“O-oh, he’s- there he is.” Kinoshita stood up but then crouched back by Sawamura’s side before he could look behind him to see who Kinoshita was talking about. “He’s intense and kind of scary but he’s been waiting here to talk to you. Thank you Sawamura, I know- you probably put my death, all of our deaths on your shoulders but- the only reason I survived for as long as I did was because of what you taught me, because I knew you’d have my back.” Kinoshita squeezed Sawamura’s shoulder before he made his way towards the dock. Sawamura watched a boat pull up.

A body sat down heavily next to Sawamura, almost making him jump. One look at the wild black hair and fierce eyes was all Sawamura needed to recognize who this man was. The one whose name was wiped from history, only known as the ‘Small Giant’. He was just as fierce looking as Kinoshita warned, though he couldn’t have been any bigger than Hinata. Somethings screamed other about him, though when he had been in the Agency those with fae blood weren’t allowed in.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.” Sawamura apologized but the man only gave him a disgruntled look, as if that was the least important thing Sawamura could have brought up. After facing off against ancient creatures Sawamura wasn’t too intimidated by his intense looks.

“Make up a name and give it to me, what do I care? I’ve been dead for years.” His voice was surprisingly high. Not distractingly so but someone with such a heavy scowl should have a raspy voice. “We couldn’t even reach this place until you cut our ties to those corpses our bodies had become. There’s no need for such looks, we fought against them for years, tried everything until just giving up.” He looked disgusted with himself but he hardly looked like the skeleton creatures Sawamura had glimpsed. He looked wiry and healthy, naturally pale with a heavy brow and all his teeth in tact that Sawamura guessed he didn’t show them off unless he was grimacing.

“I used your deaths to feed my curse.” Sawamura said, ashamed but the Small Giant snorted.

“So what? Death magic can’t touch souls, it just uses the expelled magic caused from death. Maybe if the damn government didn’t make it seem like this big forbidden black art so many people wouldn’t be drawn to it.” The Small Giant waved any questions away, looking annoyed. “Look, you took for-fucking-ever to wake up so let me just say what I have to say so I can finally move on? The rest of the team already has passed on or gone on or whatever we fucking do once we leave this place. Is that okay with you boss?” Sawamura almost laughed, would have if he didn’t think the man would happily deck him. He was small but wiry with muscles and Sawamura enjoyed how his body wasn’t feeling any aches and pains, he didn’t want a broken noise to ruin that.

“Yes.” Sawamura said, not sure how else to answer.

“You destroyed those creatures, they don’t have souls or spirits like we do- they can’t come back.” The Small Giant glared off into the distance, golden eyes intense. Sawamura wondered how the Agency didn’t take one look at him and know he was something other. “By all accounts you can move on like the rest of us. Thanks for that, by the way. Wasn’t that great being stuck in a prison of your own flesh while they- not important. You could move on, or you could go back. I don’t know why you’d want too, world’s kind of shite but you seem like the noble type, wanting the help the world.” Sawamura rubbed his mouth to hide his smile. The Small Giant was abrasive and mean, but Sawamura kind of liked him.

“How do you know I can go back?” His body should have been destroyed in the magical fallout of his curse. Nothing should have survived in that barrier, least of all him.

“Death waits for you.” The Small Giant pointed to a large crow perched on a low branch of one of the trees near the path. “Good luck or- fuck it I don’t care.” He stood up and stomped his way down to the dock.

Sawamura stood up again, staring around him as he put his hands into his pocket. Something brushed against his left hand and his fingers curled around the object. The coin Kuroo had given to him, the Ossa coin, death’s coin with the crow carved into it. Sawamura looked up, the boat and the Small Giant and Kinoshita were gone. He could feel the warmth coming from that direction, the welcome.

“Fuck it, I guess.” Sawamura mumbled to himself, repeating the Small Giant as he smiled and shook his head before making his way back to the crow. His parents and grandparents and everyone else would still be there when he, eventually, died again but who was he to give up on a second chance?

Maybe he was a sucker for pain, but as he rubbed his thumb over the face of the coin he couldn’t help but think of a wide smirk and a loud cackle.

“Hello.” Sawamura greeted the large crow. It was about the size of Sawamura’s torso with gleaming black feathers that looked shockingly soft to the touch and beady black eyes that considered him in almost a laughing way as it cocked its head. “Do I follow this path to go back?” Sawamura asked, motioning to the dirt path. The crow crooned at him, a soft sound before it hopped along the branch before jumping at Sawamura. Sawamura, for his part, stood stock still as Death took perch on his shoulder. The talons were long and sharp looking and he should have weighed a lot, but he felt feather light on his shoulder and the claws were a mere soft pressure.

Sawamura took that as an affirmative as he began walking down the path. The forest was lightly light, somehow the sun was reaching the forest floor though Sawamura wasn’t sure how. The crow on his shoulder chattered at him, nudging his head and nipping at his ear in a way that should have been frightening or alarming, but simply wasn’t.

The trees managed to look equal parts old and new. The ground clear but littered. The sun shining but not hot. The In-Between, Kinoshita had called it, that was for sure.

Sawamura tripped over a root because he had been too busy looking up at the thick canopy to pay attention to his feet. He looked down and realized he was no longer on the path. The crow had been such a slight weight that Sawamura hadn’t even realized he was gone, which was probably for the best because pitching forward after he tripped probably would have upset the crow.

Sawamura turned around, expecting the path to be somewhere directly behind him but he felt as if he walked for a while and saw no path. He frowned as he looked around, rubbing the back of his neck in confusion.

The forest was neither frightening nor comforting. It was neither dark nor light. Sawamura’s heart was neither beating steady nor fast.

Sawamura closed his eyes, tilted his head back and took a couple deep breaths. No use panicking, he knew that much. The area was an unknown and he pushed his hands back into his pocket, felt the cold comfort of the coin before he reopened his eyes as he thought of his grandfather who had told him all about what to do if he got lost in the woods. Ready to figure out how to navigate a forest that wasn’t really a forest.

Except he wasn’t in a forest. He seemed to be in some type of clearing covered in a thick layer of fog. Sawamura turned around, expecting to see trees or light or something but it was just more fog.

Maybe he had made the wrong decision. He could have seen his parents again, he hadn’t seen them since he was 8 years old. His mind tried to conjure up his parents, he couldn’t remember much about them. He looked mostly like his father, especially now that he was an adult but he had his mother’s eyes. But that was what people told him, not what he knew.

The fog seemed to get thicker.

Sawamura swallowed thickly as he rolled his shoulders, trying to release some of the tension. He refused to let his brain go to worse-case-scenario. Despite his best intention, he couldn’t help but think about his grandparents, if they were together again and as happy as they had been alive. Would they still be old and wrinkly? His grandfather stooped from years of working over a table, his grandmother’s fingers crooked and swollen. Or did you revert to another age when you went to- well, wherever souls went after death.

The fog swirled around him, felt like a physical force against him.

He pulled the coin out and held it tightly in his fist.

Laughter sounded to his right. Sawamura turned, frowning because it had sounded so familiar. His fingers had slackened on the coin as he walked slowly in that direction. He couldn’t see anything in front of him, didn’t know if he was about to walk into a tree or fall off a cliff.

Sawamura thought of his grandfather's advice, spoken in a deep rumbly tone untouched by age. The fog was thickening around him again.

His hand tightened on the coin.

Laughter. More importantly, Sugawara’s laughter. Like a soothing balm against a sunburn.

Sawamura walked faster towards it before forcing himself to slow down. He felt more than knew that he was in some kind of space between the real world and the In-Between, the fog reacting to where his thoughts lay. If he thought of the dead the fog thickened around him. So Sawamura let the ~~day~~ past lay.

Sawamura thought of Sugawara instead. Warm laughter, head thrown back, clenching his stomach until there were tears in the corner of his eyes. Asahi would be near him if he was laughing like that, Sugawara didn’t let himself go like that around many people. Asahi would be chuckling into his hand, more reserved but no less entertained by whatever was going on. Perhaps Nishinoya and Tanaka were trying to convince their juniors that there was a talent show again. They had been trying to get them to do a dance number, Hinata would be willing and eager but the rest would be hesitant. Kageyama and Yamaguchi not comfortable with outright refusing their superiors, though Tsukishima wouldn’t have the same problem. They wouldn’t have believed their two over enthusiastic superiors until Ennoshita, sleepy eyes and deadpan, would mention that they always lost to Aoba Johsai in the “talent show” which had fired up the juniors.

A spreading warmth was in Sawamura’s chest, it spread through his body slowly as he began to run, fingers clutched tightly around the coin in his hand.

Sawamura thought of the brief period of time he had shared a flat with Terushima, or really Terushima had invaded his flat. The Ink Caster had been surprised when Sawamura came home at night after work and cooked meals for them, stuttering out apologies that he’d do the dishes. Sawamura liked cooking, but had gotten tired of cooking for one night after night. He never said the words, thankful for Terushima giving him a reason to come home instead of sleeping at the office, so he showed him by preparing meals, making more than enough so Terushima could eat it for lunch the next day. Sawamura remembered too many late nights spent watching a different assortment of odd movies Terushima had found. 60’s drama sci-fi’s one night followed by comedic westerns the next.

Sparse nights spent with Iwaizumi, laughing a little louder than they should after probably one beer too many. Iwaizumi dragging him to a hole in the wall restaurant and making Sawamura try something called chilli cheese fries, which looked like the most unappetizing things ever. After tasting them Sawamura admitted little chubby angel babies had descended from the cracked ceiling and he could hear a chorus of harps. Iwaizumi had laughed with a mouthful of food and snorted until he choked a little.

Taking his juniors out- Sawamura stumbled over something and went sprawling towards the ground. He groaned as he waved goodbye to the feeling of not being sore after decades of pain.

Lying on his back in the grass Sawamura had to squint against the harsh brightness of the sun. The scrawny tree with the dark brown bark was doing nothing to shade him and he was getting warm even though there was a faint bite of cold still in the air.

Sawamura sat up quickly and looked around because he was no longer in an endless foggy field. He was in a woodsy area. A small clearing with just one sapling dead center that they had somehow tripped over without breaking the skinny thing. It was about the same height as him with thin little branches covered in purple and pink flowers. A giant black crow sat on a low branch, waiting him and Sawamura could swear there was amusement in those black eyes.

“Ha ha, hilarious, trip the dead guy.” Sawamura stood up and brushed himself off. He was back in his tactical clothes, the ones he had been wearing in his last clear memory. They weren’t dirty or torn, the all black material as pristine as if he had just bought them. Sawamura was a bit sad about losing his favorite outfit but was partially glad he didn’t have to replace this one. The boots had been expensive.

The crow hopped along the branch and cawed at him, loud and demanding. Sawamura tilted his head before remembering. The coin had been in his hand but he could feel the familiar weight back in his pocket. He pulled it out and handed it to the crow. The crow gently took it in his beak before tapping it on the branch a couple times.

Between one blink and the next the crow was gone, leaving Sawamura staring at an empty space. Sawamura didn’t have much time to think it through as he heard a loud and familiar yowl come from behind him.

“Momo.” Sawamura said with genuine happiness as he approached the silver Maine Coon and picked her up, despite his all black outfit. His grandfather had liked to tell people that Momo had been around since he was a boy, but it was just Momo’s ancestors had always stayed around the shrine. The one in his arms was actually a second generation Momo of the original cat Sawamura had named Momo. She had two other sisters who looked exactly like her, also called Momo. There was Crazy Momo, Lazy Momo, and Cunning Momo. Sawamura had been a very creative 11-year-old boy.

When Sawamura put down Momo he noted all the spirits gathered around, whispery cheers and trilling laughter lighting up the woods that he now recognized as his woods. The same woods he had travelled and explored as a child, greeting the spirits and sharing soft secrets with them. Building houses and planting their favorite flowers for them with his grandmother.

There was a warmth in his chest, the same one that had gotten stronger and spread throughout his body the further he had run in that foggy field. The memory of the In-Between was becoming dimmer in his mind, though he still knew that was where he had been. That he had spoken to Kinoshita and had something to tell Narita was the clearest.

Sawamura wasn’t sure how any of that had worked. There was the coin of course, but if it was just that or if it actually worked wouldn’t there be more of them made? He vaguely remembered the Ossa coins being made of different material, sometimes very rare so maybe just one type of the material appealed to Death? Another myth said someone actually stole something of Death’s, melted it down and made the first Ossa coins for themselves and their family so that in exchange for their lives they would give up the coin so Death could rebuild whatever was stolen.

Attempting to understand it was like trying to understand the logistics of magic itself. Sometimes there just wasn’t a scientific explanation to things. It didn’t agree with Sawamura’s rational sense, but he decided not to question it too much further.

Sawamura looked around as he walked in the direction he knew his grandparents’ house and shrine was. Someone had obviously recently planted the tree and Sawamura didn’t mind that much. It was a pretty little thing but despite the warmth of the sun he could tell winter still had a small grasp on the world. Most of the branches on the surrounding trees were still barren except for a few resilient early bloomers. It didn’t make much sense to plant a tree when winter could decidedly kill it with a drop in temperatures.

The spirits danced around him, tugging on his clothes and fingers and hair. It was close to the reception he had gotten when he came home from the Academy for the first time after his grandparents died. He whispered and mumbled apologies for ignoring them for so long.

It was becoming spring. The thought nearly stopped him. When he had faced off against the ancient creatures, summer had just been coming to a close. He had spent a couple months in the In-Between sleeping? Kinoshita did mention that time worked differently there. It might explain why all his wounds were healed if he had slept through the healing process. Unease started to unfurl inside of him but Sawamura pushed that aside, ignoring how his wounds had looked like they had healed a lot longer than four or so months ago.

Four months wasn’t much to lose. Even half a year wasn’t bad. Sawamura would have a tough time explaining that and he wondered if it would be safer not to go back to the Agency. Something twisted in his stomach at the thought. He wasn’t ready to quit just yet, wasn’t ready to leave. Sawamura pushed those thoughts aside also as the tip of the red roof of the shrine came into view.

The shrine and house were connected, a sprawling black and red building that could easily house the entirety of Karasuno. Had actually housed Karasuno several times. It looked and felt old but welcoming and friendly as so few places that were truly old felt. Sawamura hadn’t realized how much he missed it until it came into view.

Sawamura’s own room, the same one he had since he was 8 years old and came to live with his grandparents, was all the way on the southern side. The porch wrapped around the monstrosity of a house, added onto by each new generation. He jumped over the porch railing before opening the sliding glass door to his room. It was one of the newer additions, his grandmother had wanted him to feel comfortable and had tried to give him all the modern comforts he had gotten used to living with his parents in their house in Sendai.

The room was the same way Sawamura had left it. An odd mixture of child memorabilia, awkward teenage years, young adult, and the few things scattered about to show an actual adult occupied the area. It was more lived in then his entire flat back in Tokyo.

Sawamura briefly wondered about his flat, what had they done with all his stuff? If two seasons had passed then it was likely they had packed it up, thrown out everything nonessential. They had dulled out his will, the shrine and house and property would belong to Asahi. The thought of an Azumane having control of the old Sawamura property settled just fine in Sawamura’s bones. He knew the gentle giant would take care of it, more so than Sawamura had done. His grandmother’s garden had almost choked to death on weeds before Sawamura hired a local to take care of it while he was away.

Sawamura stopped briefly to look at his unmade bed which was highly unusual. He always made his bed. Asahi was far too proper and polite to sleep in his room, whether Sawamura was presumed dead or not but Sawamura shrugged that off too.

Walking into the hall Sawamura smelled food, so he made his way to the kitchen, expecting to see someone there and wondering how he would explain his return. The sun was slowly making its way to the touch the horizon, speaking of the lateness of the hour. Dinner perhaps? Hopefully it was just Asahi, maybe Nishinoya too. After the initial fright, he could explain everything he knew to Asahi, maybe come up with a game plan of some sort to tell everyone else. Better to spring it on one person than a group of them.

Sawamura’s grandmother’s words about bad manners rang through his head as he collected a dish from the empty kitchen and piled it with food. He hadn’t made the food or asked to eat it but he was suddenly very hungry. Thinking about not having eaten in half a year made Sawamura’s head hurt so he bowed over his food, hoping that was a good enough thanks before he started to dig in. It was good, far better than anything Asahi had ever made. A lot of spices and a good mix of traditional and modern food, which meant it was mostly likely Nishinoya. Nishinoya was fine, he would probably be easier to convince than Asahi. Nishinoya relied on his senses and instinct, meant he wouldn’t get caught up on the logistics of returning from the dead unlike Asahi.

Sawamura heard the faint sound of laughter and he put his empty dish down to follow the sound towards the living room. The more modern living room, set up with an actual TV instead of the traditional one that Sawamura hadn’t been able to go in when he was a kid. He still didn’t go in there as an adult, though his grandmother had enjoyed kneeling on a mat and watching the sunset from the glass wall.

Taking a deep breath, Sawamura braced himself as he looked around the arch leading into the living room. The chairs and couch were set up so everyone sitting on them had their backs to him, facing the TV.

_“And what do we call that move Sawamura?”_ Michimiya’s voice rang out in the mostly silent room. Sawamura was confused for a moment before he focused on the TV, running one of Michimiya’s recordings. Michimiya had been his high school friend, they had gone to the same middle and high school, though they had lost touch after he graduated from the Academy and moved to Tokyo.

_“You’re laughing but I’m pretty skilled, right? Right Miya?”_ A slightly higher pitched voice rang out of the younger Sawamura on the screen as he did some kind of embarrassing rocking-dance motion. Michimiya was laughing off screen, the camera bouncing with her amusement.

_“Oh no you are doing a shoulder shimmy!”_ Michimiya laughed louder but the younger Sawamura just grinned. They were in Sawamura’s room, natural light filtering through.

_“You have to do it one step at a time, too much it’s overwhelming.”_ Younger Sawamura deadpanned, causing Michimiya to laugh.

_“People will just faint if you give it to them all at once? You’re doing everyone a public service then.”_ The younger Sawamura made Michimiya put the camera down, balanced on his desk as he pulled her into view and started teaching her the horrible dance moves. Sawamura had nearly forgotten how tiny Michimiya was compared to him, compared to most people. Her bubbly personality always made him forget.

“It’s okay, it’s fine.” The younger Sawamura said as he pulled a suddenly crying Michimiya to him. He noticed a suitcase in the background and remembered that day well. Several days after their high school graduation, only a week until he was expected at the Academy for early admissions.

_“I’m sorry, I’ll be fine, I don’t mean to cry again.”_ Michimiya sounded embarrassed as the younger Sawamura rubbed her back.

_“You will be fine.”_ The younger Sawamura said with a smile because he knew Michimiya Yui, who got down sometimes but always smacked some sense into herself. _“Don’t show anyone that dancing, okay? Stop laughing Miya, I have a reputation-”_ Sawamura didn’t hear the ending as he felt like he was punched over the entirety of his body right back down the hall.

Sawamura skidded to a stop, tossing up a barrier before the second hit came and cracked the walls around him. He had only a moment to marvel at how easily his magic came to him, he had been dead after all and he hadn’t tried to use it but it was there and ready for him. But mostly Sawamura was mad because someone was attacking him in his own home and they had hurt his home.

Sawamura popped up to his feet, he had left his boots outside the door of his bedroom out of habit, and tossed up a barrier around the person who had attacked him without sussing out who it had been. His barrier met another, stronger one and Sawamura grimaced as it shattered, surprised and wonder who could possibly-

“Daichi?” A surprised voice rang out, followed by a “Sawamura!” Nishinoya. Of course, why did Sawamura even think his barrier could stand a chance against Nishinoya’s? Though Nishinoya’s magic didn’t allow for much power in the offensive setting, no way he could have knocked Sawamura down like that.

Bokuto was standing in front of everyone, arms raised and face intense. Sawamura had just come back from the dead, he had no intentions of facing off against Bokuto Koutarou who looked ready to murder him at the slightest provocation. Sawamura pushed aside the question of why exactly Bokuto was inside his family home as he put up his hands in surrender.

“Daichi?” It was Sugawara asking, voice a little more broken then Sawamura had ever heard it.

“Don’t let him go near it!” Bokuto commanded as Sugawara stepped forward. Asahi hesitated but Kuroo didn’t, grabbing Sugawara’s arm to stop the other man while looking equally wrecked himself. “I’ve seen shades before but I- it shouldn’t be able to be in this place.”

“I’m not a shade.” Sawamura said, disgruntled because shades were created from all the negative emotions and magic from a death. Mostly they haunted the site where the deceased took their last breath but they were mindless, feeding off negative feelings of those around them. “Shades can’t use magic.” Sawamura flicked his wrist, fire burning against the top of his fingertips before it went out.

“Bo?” Kuroo asked, voice soft but Bokuto didn’t soften his position, if anything he looked even more murderous.

“You told me what those creatures could do.” Bokuto finally said softly and Sawamura watched everyone stiffen, the dawning horror. Sawamura hadn’t even thought of that, that people might think he was now possessed by one of those creatures that managed to worm its way into him before death.

“No, look at me.” Sawamura said before strengthening his voice. “Look at me! Those creatures aren’t used to speaking our language, do my words seem stilted or stuttered in any way? They couldn’t take care of the bodies they were in, do I look unhealthy? Underfed? Like I haven’t slept?” Sawamura wasn’t really sure how he looked besides the fact that he had a few new scars but he felt fine. Actually despite the fall in the woods and the knockback by a top-rated agent he felt better than he had in years. He could go for some more food but he felt fully rested, his magic didn’t burn through him with exhaustion either. He just hoped he looked as good as he felt.

“He’s right, please-” Sugawara was pulling against Kuroo’s hold. Bokuto looked at him, studied and calculated. Some people thought Bokuto Koutarou was a top-rated agent because he was powerful, and that surely was a part of it but facing him down now, Sawamura knew that was far from the only thing about Bokuto that made him a powerful agent.

“I can prove it to you?” Sawamura offered, thinking it through. The creatures had been able to use the abilities that their hosts had but Sawamura had something else when on this land, on his ancestors’ land. His eyes went from Sugawara, tears falling down his pale cheeks and struggling weakly against Kuroo to Asahi, pressed up against Nishinoya’s back with the shorter man still holding up the barrier between them.

“How?” Bokuto barked out.

It wasn’t anything Sawamura was supposed to do and it wasn’t anything anyone else but a Sawamura could do, not even an ancient creature could conjure a deity that didn’t want to be brought forth. His grandparents had warned him when Sawamura, as a child and devastated by his parents’ loss, had repeatedly called upon the deity of this land. He had done it once, when he was 15 and Asahi had been a complete wreck because of his selfish, unthinking and uncaring parents. Nothing Sugawara or Sawamura said could reach him, so in a moment of blind panic and heartache Sawamura had conjured the deity.

Sawamura closed his eyes and took a deep breath, hoping that Bokuto wouldn’t take the opportunity to attack him. He felt the land and the house that sat upon it, each and every living being and all the spirits that gravitated towards the property. He felt the trees and surprisingly that little one in the center of the woods, bigger now and practically teeming with a life of its own, humming against his senses like it was somehow connected to him, connected to something bigger in- Tokyo?

Sawamura pushed that aside for now as he asked the deity that lived in everything and loved the Sawamura line to come forth. Sawamura could feel their amusement, bigger and older than his own. The brush of instant comfort they brought with them. Sawamura kept his eyes closed but could feel the enormity of the deity outside, pressing close. When he was a child the deity appeared in many forms, usually big animals that cuddled close to a heartbroken little boy. When conjured them for Asahi, they had appeared as more of a feeling than anything, that blanketed the area with warmth and comfort, leaving sparkling fireflies in their wake. Sawamura knew the deity was pulling out the big guns for this, connected to the ground as he was he could feel Nishinoya’s barrier disappear and Bokuto’s hair trigger magic dissipate.

Sawamura felt a body collide with him but it was a familiar warmth and smell so he opened his eyes and returned the crushing embrace of Sugawara. He could feel wetness against his neck, felt his own eyes sting. He remembered fighting with Sugawara, watching as the other man healed Iwaizumi but it felt like so long ago. His ribs hurt where Sugawara was squeezing them but he didn’t say anything. A pair of larger, softer arms embraced them both, the press of a forehead against his head. Sawamura wiggled one arm free from Sugawara to hug Asahi.

In the living room the tape played on, a new scene. A younger Asahi was bowling, trying to throw the ball as lightly as he can. It stopped midway down and there was the loud, cackling laughter of several voices on the verge of adulthood, hanging onto the last strings of childhood while they could.

 

\---------

It took a while to calm everyone down enough for Sawamura to be able to tell them what happened, or at least what he knew. It was difficult to explain the In-Between because it felt and sounded like a dream, logical until he was trying to explain it, kind of foggy in places. He left out what Kinoshita had told him, it was private and not important to the story.

“You said a field full of fog?” Kuroo asked and Sawamura met his eyes for what felt like the first time. He wanted to lean forward and hug the other man, but didn’t know if it’d be welcomed at that point.

“Yeah, I think- it’s closer to this world than the In-Between is? You get stuck there because you’re not fully committed to one world or the other.” Sawamura had to think about the living to find his way back. Sugawara turned his head forcefully, running light and clinical fingers over the scars on his face. He had been doing that for much of Sawamura’s explanation.

“Everything’s healed, even the signs of exhaustion are gone.” Sugawara sounded torn between worry and elation.

“I guess that’s what you get when you sleep for half a year.” Sawamura joked but everyone just continued to stare at him.

“Half a year?” Asahi finally spoke up from his other side.

“Yeah, that’s how long I’ve been gone so I assumed that’s how long I’ve been asleep.” Sawamura raised his eyebrows when Asahi quickly dropped his gaze. “What? Has it been longer?” Sawamura tried to keep his smile in place but it was difficult. It couldn’t have been too long, everyone basically looked the same. No new wrinkles or drastic hair differences.

“Daichi it’s been a year and a half.” Sugawara said softly, gripping his hand. Sawamura let that process, thought about missing a complete year and six months.

“Huh.” Sawamura said in his most even voice. “So does that still make me 28? Are you my elders now? Should I refer to you as Mr. Sugawara  sir?” He felt ridiculously giddy in a way that’d never happened to him before. He was alive, what did he care about the 500 or so days he had to give up to get back?

“Daichi.” Asahi sounded terribly sad so Sawamura turned to him, thought about doing something sappy like pressing their foreheads together and reassuring him everything was fine but instead he took a play out of high school Sawamura’s book. He punched Asahi in the shoulder, not hard but enough to feel the impact.

“I’m alive and you’re sad about a year and half of lost days!” Sawamura scolded. “Give me back my house, I changed my mind about you having it.”

“D-Daichi.” Asahi stuttered out but there was a hesitant smile on his face. There was a hollow thud and then Sawamura was bending over at the waist, trying to reach a growing bruise mid-back.

“Suga!” Sawamura said because that hurt and Sugawara had never pulled his punches but it’d been so long since Sawamura had felt one, he hadn’t been prepared at all.

“You don’t get to make jokes!” Sugawara shouted and from the corner of Sawamura’s eye he saw the other three people in the room leave. Giving the old friends space to talk. Sawamura wanted to watch Kuroo walk away but his attention had to be on Sugawara, frantic and angry.

“I can’t make jokes about my own jokes?” Sawamura knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as it popped out of his mouth.

“It might feel like you were here just yesterday Daichi b-but-” Asahi took a deep breath. “We had to live without you for over a year.” Sawamura heard everything the giant didn’t say. They had to live with the guilt and shame, the press of grief and sadness, the hole Sawamura’s absence that would have been carved out in their lives. Sometimes Sawamura forgot how important he was to some people.

“I’m sorry.” Sawamura said with feeling, wondering if it was even a good thing that he was back. He hadn’t thought it through, hadn’t thought of the consequences of his friends having moved on. Asahi leaned his forehead, head pressed against Sawamura’s chest and Sawamura hugged him. It was a little awkward, Asahi was too big and they were both not exactly used to physical comfort like that but they made it work. Sugawara pressed against Sawamura’s side, rubbing the sore spot in the middle of his back with something akin to an apology.

It took a while but Sawamura finally got an explanation of why they were all here, especially Bokuto and Kuroo. It was a surprise to hear about everything that had been going on since he was presumed dead. The big tree in the west section was the most surprising though.

“I know it’s selfish but when I learned you had- that he had a piece of your soul in him, I just wanted to be near him. To feel you again.” Sugawara sounded ashamed but Sawamura rubbed his back in comfort. “I didn’t- I know you two had gotten close but I didn’t realize how close. He hides it well, how hurt he was or is.”

“We weren’t planning to come here, not until the tree gave Kuroo that seed.” Asahi explained where Sugawara had left off. “D-do you think we should t-tell the others?”

“I can call Yuuji first, it’s probably best if you stay here for a while Daichi.” Sugawara said, going into planning mode even as he used the sleeve of his sweater to wipe away any evidence that he’d been crying. Sawamura tilted his head, studying the sweater with little green alien heads all over it. Sugawara looked at him and then looked down at his jumper, turning an impressive shade of red.

“Does this mean I’ll be forced to interact with Oikawa even more now?” Sawamura deadpanned.

“Just for that I’m going to make you watch as we cuddle and flirt.” Sugawara said primly as he stood up and stretched. Sawamura turned to Asahi with disbelief.

“They do it a lot,” Asahi said with a cringe. “It’s adorable.” Sawamura resisted the urge to laugh.

“We’re not nearly as bad as you and Noya when you think no one’s looking.” Sugawara shot back.

“Oh! I should go find him.” Asahi stood up, nearly slammed into the low table before jolting out of the room with a red face. Sawamura didn’t even want to know what compromising position the two people had been found in, they had years of ignored feelings to make up for.

“You should go talk to him.” Sugawara gave him a meaningful look so there was no question as to the him he was referring to was. “You’re going to be busy for a while.”

“Call Ukai too please.” Sawamura requested as he also stood up before he was engulfed in another spine cracking hug.

“I’m not anamateur Daichi.” Sugawara scoffed, his eyes suspiciously glassy once more before he turned on his heel, making a more graceful exit than Asahi had.

 

Sawamura rubbed his neck, felt the unfamiliar tickle of too-long hair touch his hand. He ran a hand through his hair, the odd length of it settling weirdly on top of his head. He had been too worried about other things to notice but it had grown out from the short cut he’d had since he was a kid. Nothing he could do about it now, if Terushima showed up he could cut it.

It was not too hard to find Kuroo and Bokuto. They were in the big courtyard his grandmother had spent years carefully tending to. It was too early in the season for the flowers to be in bloom but it didn’t take away from the large pond full of koi fish that the cats left alone or the stone fountains for the birds, which the cats definitely did not leave alone. Bokuto and Kuroo were sitting on a wooden bench near the pond and Sawamura could tell they had just finished an intense conversation.

“Hey.” Sawamura called out, not wanting to startle Bokuto once again. Feeling that punch of power once was quite enough for Sawamura. Bokuto stood up, looking hesitant to leave but he finally gave a stiff nod before wandering further off into the courtyard. “Don’t follow the spirits, they like playing pranks at night.” Sawamura warned as a soft wispy glow appeared near Bokuto’s hip and darted off into the woods. They wouldn’t hurt Bokuto, but he had harmed the house and they might get him incredibly lost for a bit.

“So this is where you grew up.” Kuroo said with his charismatic smirk, trying to keep the air light even as his eyes scanned over Sawamura.

“Yeah, it’s kind of fairytale-esque, isn’t it?” Sawamura sat down on the bench, watching the sun meet the horizon, painting the sky in stunning shades of pink and purple and orange.

“Just a little bit.” Kuroo joked, turning his attention also to the sunrise. Now that Sawamura was close to Kuroo he could tell where that warmth was originating from. Sawamura closed his eyes with a small smile, felt the around for his own soul which was complete and uninjured inside of him but he could still feel the half in Kuroo, now entwined with Kuroo’s own soul.

“Thank you.” Sawamura said softly, opening his eyes to turn his attention back to Kuroo.

“For what?” Kuroo asked, a desperate sort of look in his eyes.

“For the coin, the tree-” Sawamura pointed at his chest. He knew a person's soul didn’t reside inside their chest, it was much larger than a body and expanded greatly behind just a physical form but it was easiest to point somewhere near his heart. “I gave the coin to Death, the tree served as a sort of anchor, and you pulled me to this world.”

“I didn’t-” Kuroo stopped himself, looking down at his own hands and flexing the muscles and digits. “Sorry it’s just a little surreal that you’re here which I know sounds ridiculous coming from me because of the whole dying and coming back thing so you’d think I’d be a little more understanding or perhaps- please stop me from ranting now.” Sawamura laughed, never having seen Kuroo that frantic before.

“You didn’t expect me to come back when you had moved on already.” Sawamura supplied, knowing that this whole trip for him was probably about putting Sawamura to rest.

“Moved on?” Kuroo laughed, a paper-thin sound that he cut off quickly. “Daichi you tore out a place in my- in all our lives. What did you think, a year and a half would pass and we’d be like ‘well it’s time to officially put Sawamura Daichi to rest’? The other teams had to hold your team back, they were breaking through that barrier despite the fact- the backlash of that curse being unleashed killed everything in that barrier. Left a giant crater, but your team didn’t care. Suga broke his hand beating on the barrier, I’ve never seen Asahi so angry before, even Tsukki was picking up his used arrows to shoot at the barrier, over and over again. Kageyama made this big complicated rune and we could all feel the power Hinata was gathering, even after all that fighting, it might have killed him but Aone and Ushijima grabbed him.” Kuroo was holding his head in his hands, trembling slightly.

Sawamura moved closer and rubbed a hand up and down Kuroo’s spine, felt the muscle and bone beneath his palm. Truthfully he hadn’t thought his death would impact that many people. The death of his parents and grandparents had hurt, had taken him time to heal and move on but eventually he did. He had to, the world didn’t just stop because you grieved and he expected that was what everyone would do with his death. He had forgotten how jagged death could leave you, how he wasn’t the only one who died that day.

“I’m sorry about Inuoka.” Sawamura said softly, pressing his forehead against Kuroo’s shoulder.

“He was just a kid.” Kuroo said just as quietly after a long pause. “Everyone lost something that day and you had to-” Sawamura didn’t try to defend himself, didn’t try to make Kuroo understand that the creatures had only been playing with them. It didn’t lessen the tragedy of the lives taken that day, made them senseless because the creatures hadn’t cared who they cut through, just that someone from each team died.

“I’m sorry.” Sawamura repeated as Kuroo turned to him. Sawamura felt the overwhelming need to kiss him but as emotionally raw as they both were he knew it wasn’t the time. “I had to come back to make you a meal. I promised, right?” Kuroo let out a watery laugh, resting their foreheads together as Sawamura carefully brought up his hand to cup Kuroo’s jaw, running his thumb over the soft skin of his tanned cheek.

“How am I supposed to have defenses when you say stuff like that?” Kuroo asked and Sawamura grinned, just a little.

“I was kind of hoping to bring those defenses down.” Sawamura said honestly. They both had them, mental walls erected to keep them safe. Kuroo because of his demon side, Sawamura because he had already lost so much.

“Bo and I decided we’re going to leave tomorrow morning, you’ll have a lot of explaining to do and your team will want to see you.” Kuroo leaned away but he pressed his hand against Sawamura’s, keeping it resting against his face.

“It’s going to be hectic for a while.” Sawamura said, a little frustrated because when would be a proper time for them?

“Coming back from the dead is kind of a bitch.” Kuroo smirked. “I can give you a couple pointers but it comes with a price.”

“Dinner?” Sawamura asked, sounding pleased even to his own ears. Well if Kuroo didn’t know how smitten he was before, he did now.

“Only if you cook it.” Kuroo agreed. There was still a lot to work through and it might take a while to work on it but they were getting there. Sawamura kissed Kuroo’s forehead, sealing the deal.

 

\----------

 

Coming back from the dead was easier than Sawamura expected. He thought most of that was due to the combined power and force of natures that were the Ukai clan, knew that they had bullied and threatened their way into getting the answers they wanted but Sawamura was mostly okay with that. There had been a lot of tests, both mental and physical. He had been poked and prodded by med mages and empaths alike. There were also stipulations he had to agree too. Sawamura took the leadership role back from a very willing Sugawara.

Sawamura knew his life at the Agency was coming to a close. He wasn’t ready for it to be over, which was why he fought so hard to return, but another 5 or so years was about all he had left. He knew the superiors wanted him gone and if not gone then behind a desk. Eventually they’d wheedle their way into making him an office member, and then he would gladly walk away but he stayed put for now. Sawamura knew when he left Asahi and Sugawara would follow. Asahi remained the owner of the Sawamura shrine and house, though he had tried to give it back several times Sawamura knew the other man would take care of it in a way Sawamura couldn’t. Sugawara was already back to studying modern medicine, gaining more knowledge and had let it slip that he wanted to open his own practice but he wanted to be an actual doctor on top of a med mage. Sawamura wasn’t sure what he would do once he left the Agency, though he was quite certain whatever it was, he wanted to do it with a tall man with perpetual bedhead.

The team welcomed him back with hugs and tears and hard slaps on the back. The reaction of Karasuno had been what was plaguing his mind the most. Mostly his return over someone else’s, over Kinoshita coming back but a talk with Narita eased his worries.

“Kinoshita waited for me to wake up in that other world, he said he didn’t want me to wake up alone.” Sawamura said with a small smile as he stood next to Narita on the porch of his own house. Narita returned the smile though there were tears in his eyes. “He wanted me to pass something along but if you don’t want to hear it now, or you can’t-”

“No!” Narita shouted then cleared his throat. “No, please tell me.” He rubbed at his close-cropped hair, looking slightly embarrassed.

“He wanted you to know he was happy about you having a baby, that he was sorry that he never told you when he could. He was so proud of you.” Sawamura looked up at the sky sprinkling with the first signs of stars.

“He was- um- he loved me, didn’t he?” Narita asked, fingers curling against the railing. “I never- it’s not something you say out loud, yeah? Just assuming that stuff makes you sound like a self-involved arsehole but I knew. Do you think it was selfish, still wanting to be friends? I thought because Terushima and you- I thought it’d be okay but maybe that was just because I still needed him.” Sawamura rubbed the back of his neck, thinking it through.

“Maybe a little time apart would have helped.” Sawamura said slowly. After living with him Terushima had disappeared for three months before opening up Magic Ink a couple blocks from his Agency building. Sawamura assumed that was Terushima coming to grips with his own feelings, working through if he could still be friends with Sawamura despite them. “But Kinoshita would never have stopped being your friend over it. I think he would have taken one look at that little girl and his own feelings would have become secondary.” The same way Kinoshita was truly happy when Narita got married, beaming like a proud father the day of the wedding.

“Thank you.” Narita rubbed at his face, laughing quietly. “Sawamura you’ve been back for a day and you’re already helping other people. Do you ever take a break?” Sawamura smiled, a little forced because there was another reason he wanted to talk to Narita but he felt selfish voicing it.

“Narita, I’m sorry-” But Narita was cutting him off with a sharp shake of his head.

“Don’t. Don’t be sorry that you’re back and- and the others aren’t, that Kinoshita isn’t. It doesn’t work that way Sawamura, none of us would trade you for them the same way if Kinoshita was the one that came back. None of us would trade him for you. That day- the time after it, it was horrible and we know- we all feel happy you’re back. So no more guilt.” Narita grinned over at him, soft and happy with a twinge of sadness.

“I think that’s the longest you’ve gone without swearing.” Sawamura joked and Narita groaned. Narita cursed more than anyone on the team, which surprised outsiders but shocked none of them.

“My daughter might have caught on to daddy swearing.” Narita hung his head as Sawamura laughed. “I know! It doesn’t help that I laugh when she says it, it’s so cute, she’s so little and pink and she chirps out a swear and I lose it. Then because I’m laughing she starts saying it again and again and my wife is trying to keep it together but I can tell she’s close to laughing and sometimes she says them at the worst times Sawamura.” They laughed together as Sawamura moved closer so Narita could show him all the pictures and videos he had taken on his phone.

Sawamura moved in with Terushima. He could get his own apartment but the other one never felt like home besides for the few months Terushima lived there. It was a big sprawling penthouse in the center of Tokyo and Terushima nearly combusted on the spot when Sawamura asked if he could live with him until he found a place of his own. Sawamura had woken up for a long time with Terushima crawling into bed with him and holding him tightly, as if he was afraid Sawamura would disappear once out of his sight.

“Are you sure this is okay?” Sawamura asked from the kitchen, surrounded by ingredients in case anything goes wrong. Nothing ever went wrong in his kitchen but Sawamura was nothing if not prepared.

“That’s like the fiftieth time you’ve asked me and that’s just in the past hour. That’s practically the same question every minute.” Terushima groaned from his perched position on a stool on the other side of the bar. Sawamura had made him pasta to thank him again for letting him use his kitchen and apartment for his date. “You know I can tell you’re nervous but it’s very frustrating because I at least thought you’d sweat or pace or change your outfit 10 times not just badger me with the same question repeatedly. Worried about me on your first date in- how long has it been?” Terushima asked innocently though he definitely knew how long it’d been since Sawamura last had a date. Sawamura had also nervously reorganized Terushima’s kitchen but the chances of the other man realizing that were close to zero since Terushima never used the kitchen except to toss abuses at his coffee maker when it didn’t brew quick enough.

“I just want to make sure-“

“That it’s okay! I know.” Terushima ate the last of his garlic bread, chewing thoughtfully before grinning over to Sawamura. “I’m not a glutton for punishment Dai, if having you move in would have been too painful or whatever angsty shite you’re thinking then I wouldn’t have let it happen.” Terushima was brutally honest.

“Okay, I won’t ask anymore.” Sawamura got Terushima another cream soda, his favorite, and placed it in front of him. “But you really don’t have to leave, it’s your own apartment.”

“Dai, I love you but you are the biggest worrywart in the history of ever.” Terushima sipped his soda. “You and rooster-head deserve this and you deserve not to have your roommate hovering around. I keep telling you that this is your place too now!”

“There’s something else, isn’t there?” Sawamura leaned across the counter, closely scrutinizing his friend’s face.

“I also might have a date.” Terushima said primly, taking a purposefully delicate sip of his soda even as his cheeks turned pink.

“A date? With who? Do I know them? I think it’s suspicious that you won’t bring this boy around.” Sawamura joked even as he looked for more answers.

“Stop Dadchi!”

“I hate how Kuroo made that a thing.” Sawamura sighed dramatically.

“You do know him but it’s- new.” Terushima shrugged, looking pleased and a little shy. Sawamura smiled happily.

“I’ll kick his butt if he hurts you.” Sawamura said seriously.

“Butt? Really Daichi? How old are you?” Terushima said in exasperation, finishing off his soda and standing up.

“So could I win in a fight?” Sawamura asked even as Terushima made his way towards the front door when the intercom buzzed.

“Probably, you’re more crafty than people give you credit for.” Terushima grumbled even as Sawamura grinned. “He’s kind of impressive though.”

“Impressive?” Sawamura ran through people he knew, mostly all Agency members and all decidedly quite impressive. Terushima had higher standards though and Sawamura tried to narrow it down to the people at his welcome back party when he officially was reinstated at the Agency. Most of Section Five was there, given any excuse to get some time off from work and get free drinks and food. Sawamura tried to remember who Terushima talked to but he was having a hard time seeing past Kuroo in a pair of black pants and a red shirt covered in black cats Sawamura had bought him as a joke, smiling and relaxed, perhaps flirting heavily with Sawamura. “No, he has flowers!” Terushima pointed at the little display showing who was asking to be let into the building.

Sawamura reached past the retching and cooing Terushima to buzz Kuroo in, feeling his cheeks heat. Terushima pulled on a jacket and slipped on his shoes, grinning over at Sawamura.

“Remember, lube is-”

“Please leave and never come back!” Sawamura covered his ears even as Terushima tried to pull them away, saying what he had to say was important. Terushima made Sawamura feel like a teenager again. Sawamura finally managed to shove Terushima out the door just as the elevator opened up to reveal Kuroo.

“Rooster-head!” Terushima called out as he hopped on one foot to put his left shoe on.

“Still not taking your ADHD medication I see.” Kuroo sniped back. Terushima faked out a gasp.

“I am a responsible adult.” Terushima complained before turning back to Sawamura. “I took it today, right?”

“Yes, you had it with dinner.” Sawamura confirmed with a grin as Terushima stuck his tongue out at Kuroo.

“You two boring old people have fun watching the history channel and staying in on a Friday night, I’m going out.” Terushima said petulantly, even though he was only two years younger than Sawamura and Kuroo.

“With Tendou.” Sawamura tried but Terushima laughed as he entered the elevator.

“Close but no bones.” Close? But before Sawamura could question him further the doors slid shut and Kuroo was in front of him

“Hi.” Sawamura greeted with a wide smile, spotting the large bouquet of brightly colored flowers in Kuroo’s hand. Mostly Sawamura’s eyes got stuck on the cream-colored jumper that was the perfect length for his long torso and the black jeans that covered his seemingly endless legs.

“Hi.” Kuroo greeted back with a matching smile, the tips of his cheeks tinged pink beneath his dark skin tone.

“Hi.” Sawamura said again because the complete picture of Kuroo Tetsurou with his hands full of flowers and perfect outfit and shy smile was a little too much for Sawamura’s brain to handle at that moment. Sawamura ushered Kuroo inside before they could start another round of greetings.

“These are for you,” Kuroo thrust the flowers at Sawamura, nearly punching him in the chest. “Sorry! Wow, I am rusty- just bad, so bad at this. I could have sworn at some point I was good but nope, lied to myself.” Sawamura laughed as he took the flowers. They were both a little nervous, the feeling born more from inexperience and long periods of being alone, but they knew how each other felt about them, and that was a start. Made the tension die away a little, despite how they might mess up.

“I’m not encouraging you to punch me but I can take an accidental punch.” Kuroo laughed and shook his head.

“Not a great idea to punch someone on a first date.” Sawamura laid the flowers on the table because neither he nor Terushima owned a vase.

It was not the first time they’d seen each other since Sawamura came back. They’d actually seen each other quite often, especially since Terushima’s flat was close to Section One’s building. Sometime during Sawamura’s absence his juniors had started to train with Nekoma and Fukurodani and Hinata was oftentimes working with Bokuto. Sawamura came to watch and help out whenever he could and Kuroo was usually there too. Kuroo repeatedly assured Sawamura that Bokuto was only kidding when he said he was planning to steal Hinata, but Sawamura wasn’t too sure about that.

Kuroo had even taken Sawamura around to a few shops in Tokyo, telling Sawamura it was lucky all his clothes had been donated. Sawamura didn’t see the appeal of watching him try on dozens of slacks and shirts and jumpers, but he was glad to have Kuroo there anyways. It had been probably one of the most enjoyable days Sawamura had ever had. Getting lunch afterwards, shoved into a corner booth with their feet and legs knocking together purposely was nice too. Better than nice.

So there was no reason to be nervous, especially since Sawamura knew Kuroo liked him and Sawamura definitely liked Kuroo so he shouldn’t feel nervous. He wasn’t even this nervous when he first started dating Michimiya. Of course they had known each other since middle school when Michimiya used to shove straws up her nose to make people laugh and Sawamura used to do impressions of their teachers during breaks that nearly got him in trouble a handful of times. But this was different and Sawamura was nervous.

“I have-” Sawamura was abruptly cut off when he turned around and there were lips pressed against his. The kiss was over as quickly as it began, chaste and left both of them red.

“Sorry! I just wanted- I should have probably asked right? Or at least not ambushed you but it’s- I’m so sorry.” But there was half a smirk Kuroo was trying to hide that spoke about how sorry he really wasn’t and honestly, Sawamura didn’t really want him to be sorry either.

“You can kiss me.” Sawamura said as Kuroo ran a hand through his messy bedhead and looked around, starting to comment on the largeness of the room and the great view. “Kuroo- Tetsurou, I said you can kiss me.”

“Oh,” Kuroo blinked, hand dropping to his side. “I thought you were giving future permission, but you mean right now?”

“Well I wasn’t really prepared for the first one so-” Sawamura grinned, shrugging one shoulder. Kuroo smirked in return, stepping closer, the height difference more noticeable when they were so close. Sawamura would probably be mad that his eyes were level with Kuroo’s lips except, well, they were quite nice lips and they were about to touch his.

Kissing Kuroo was like meeting him for the first time. Hesitant and a little wary but soon Sawamura was reaching up to cup Kuroo’s jaw and Kuroo was sliding a hand around Sawamura’s back. They broke apart slowly, smiling softly and exchanging breaths.

“That was-”

“Nice?”

Kuroo hummed happily, leaning back down to kiss Sawamura again, fingers curling against his spine as Kuroo’s other hand trailed up Sawamura’s side, making his breath catch in his throat. Sawamura lightly caressed Kuroo’s cheek with his thumb, using the barest of pressure as his other hand slipped into the soft hair on the back of Kuroo’s neck.

They broke apart once more when Sawamura’s phone started to ring.

“Sorry, ignore it.” Sawamura tilted his head up for another kiss and Kuroo laughed at his eagerness but the shorter man ignored that, tilting Kuroo’s head and kissing him slow and deep like he had been thinking about for quite a while. Kuroo didn’t laugh after that. It wasn’t as if Sawamura thought of kissing Kuroo a lot, but it was enough to be slightly embarrassing.

Sawamura wanted to kiss Kuroo when he laughed uninhibited, more like a cackle as Bokuto tried to corral several fighting 20-year-olds and ended up making things worse. Sawamura wanted to kiss Kuroo when they were eating together and Kuroo always managed to get some of his food onto his shirt no matter how careful he was. Sawamura wanted to kiss Kuroo when he was bent over his desk, glasses perched on his nose and frowning down at various paperwork. Sawamura wanted to kiss Kuroo when he texted him ‘good morning’ and ‘sleep well’ texts every day.

“I thought putting it on vibrate would be better-” Kuroo said, a little breathlessly as his own phone started to vibrate in his pocket but Sawamura took advantage of the small distraction to trail kisses against his sharp jaw. “It’ll- um- stop soon.” Kuroo’s hold tightened on Sawamura and Sawamura couldn’t help but grin against the tanned skin. Kuroo was playing with the hem of Sawamura’s shirt, as if working up the courage to slide it up his back, skin on skin. Sawamura could feel a spike of nerves at the thought of Kuroo feeling the wealth of scars along his back, but it was not as if Kuroo hadn’t seen him shirtless. Kuroo actually seemed to have a great appreciation for the tattoos and scars littering Sawamura’s body. Kuroo’s mind must be running along the same path as he gently kissed the scars on the side of Sawamura’s face.

Second ring. Sawamura’s phone rang exactly three times, stopped, beeped for a missed call, then started ringing again. Third ring. Both Kuroo and Sawamura shared a sigh before Sawamura was pulling away reluctantly to grab his phone off the bookshelf where he had been looking over possible movie choices, just in case Kuroo wanted to stay over after they ate. Kuroo pulled his own phone out of his back pocket.

“Suga?” Sawamura questioned at almost the same time Kuroo said, “This better be important.” Sawamura looked over at Kuroo, outlined by the sunset that had dyed the sky in shades of orange and yellows. There was a tag on the bottom of the jumper and Sawamura smiled at the thought of Kuroo buying a new jumper specifically for this night. Something warm and new tugged beneath his breastbone.

“Daichi! Have you, by any chance, looked out your window?” Sawamura forcibly moved his eyes from the long form of Kuroo to the wall of windows that took up the entire living room space. Kuroo’s rumbling voice buzzes to background noise as Sawamura stepped closer.

“Kuroo?” Sawamura questioned.

“Hmm?” Kuroo stepped up behind Sawamura, chest against his back and propping his chin up on Sawamura’s shoulder.

“Can you see it?” Sugawara asked, a little breathless as if he was running.

“Is Tokyo on fire?” Kuroo pressed closer, body tensing behind Sawamura. Sawamura pointed to one particular building. Tokyo wasn’t technically on fire, just the tops of two or three buildings. “Is that- that’s a dragon. Yeah, I see it Kai, I’ll be- we’re on our way.”

“Sorry Daichi.” Sugawara actually did sound sorry.

“Be careful Suga.” Sawamura hung up and rubbed his forehead. “Raincheck?”

“Honestly what are the chances?” Kuroo groaned as they walked towards the front door together. “I thought dragons were extinct! And that looked like a Chinese dragon, what the hell is an extinct Chinese dragon doing lighting mid-town Tokyo on fire? How rude, how dare they- this is- I haven’t had a date in like 4 years!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neverending thanks to **audriel** for editing this entire story!!!! Thank you so much!!
> 
> Endings are so hard to write! Thank you everyone who showed some love for this story, I hope you enjoyed reading it and that this ending made up for all the gore and horror you had to trudge through to get here!
> 
> I'll be writing kind of side-stories to go with this! Here's a rough outline of what stories I'll be writing, they will be relatively short compared to this one. Read if you want! No pressure.
> 
> Hinata Shouyou (Complete) - http://archiveofourown.org/works/8752699  
> Sugawara Koushi/Oikawa Tooru -  
> Tanaka/Yachi/Kiyoko -  
> Bokuto Koutarou -  
> Iwaizumi/Mattsun/Makki -  
> Kyoutani Kentarou - 
> 
> If you have anyone else you'd like to see in this world hit me up with a comment! I can't guarantee I can write it, I've only watched the anime so I'm not a good character study of other teams shown in the manga but I can definitely give it a go!
> 
> Also I'll be writing a 'Five Times Sawamura tried to make Kuroo dinner and the One Time he succeeded' type of story closer to the holidays if you want a bit more loving KuroDai.
> 
> Once again thank you so much for your support! Have a great day!

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently I can't write one shots! They all end up being multi-chapter fics!
> 
> This is a little late for Halloween but I hope you come join me in KuroDai hell anyways!
> 
> Thank you **audriel** for your mad awesome editing skills!


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